How One Trip Can Change Your Life
by TigressOfDarkness
Summary: Severus Snape gets sent on a mission thanks to Voldemort, he must go to...Texas? What he finds there is more than he bargined for....
1.

Chapter 09: Snape? 

No one really saw what it was, but they heard the loud _SMACK_ as whatever it was stood next to Snape. Then the class saw a woman, a very beautiful woman, standing there in jeans and a black long sleeved, button down shirt, a cowboy hat, and boots. She was glaring at Snape, with her hands on her hips. Snape looked positively shocked to see her and there was a red hand mark on his cheek where she had obviously slapped him.

"We spend a beautiful week together and you don't even owl me?" the girl said, she looked like she was about to cry, but was holding it back. She also had a deep accent, it sounded Western, American perhaps.

"Jaci…I…I'm sorry?" Snape managed to say.

"For what? For breaking my heart in two or for giving me the greatest pleasure I've even known?" 'Jaci' said. The class looked wide-eyed back at Snape.

"For both?" Snape choked. The class looked back at the 'Jaci'.

"Well forget it, I've spent too many nights crying over you." With that the girl began to walk out of the classroom.

"No, Jaci wait," Severus grabbed her arm and turned her around, there was fire in her eyes.

"What do you want?"

"We need to talk." With that he roughly escorted her out of the dungeons and shut the door, the class immediately got up to go and stand by the door to listen to what they were saying.

"Severus Snape you let go of me right now!" Jaci said, kicking her legs up, twisting and squirming to get him to let go of her. Severus only held on tighter. He brought up against a wall and pinned her so she wouldn't move and couldn't kick him.

"We need to talk Jaci." He said. Jaci glared at him.

"I have nothing more to say to you Snape." Severus winced.

"Well then you listen I talk." He sighed and let her go. "There happy?" she glared at him, but nodded. "Now will you listen?" she nodded again. "Good, but first I think I'll have to dismiss my class, want to come?" again she nodded.

Harry scrambled back to his desk and everyone made it just in time as Professor Snape opened the door, walking in, his face in his usual sneer, he walked to the head of the classroom and crossed his arms, the woman walked over to his desk and plopped herself into his chair, she looked on his desk and looked at a letter.

Harry tried not to smile as she picked it up and began to read it, she looked up at Snape a bit astonished and Harry figured that the letter was to her and she hadn't opened it. Just then Snape cleared his throat, sending Harry's glance up to him.

"You should be finished with the potion by now," Snape said, glaring at Harry, he had seen him looking at Jaci. Harry merely smiled up at him. "You are dismissed." Just then Harry knocked one of his bottles down on the ground and as the class filed out, he began picking it up. Snape growled, he knew that that was an old trick of Potter's. He turned to look at Jaci and saw she was reading the letter and crying. He quickly walked over to her.

"S…Severus, you sent th…this to me?" Jaci cried, holding up the letter. Severus nodded. "Wh…when?"

"Last night," Severus whispered. Jaci stood up and looked at him. She shook her head.

"But I didn't get it."

Severus nodded. "I know, my owl returned it to me unopened." Jaci sighed and shook her head.

"It was father probably." Just then they heard shuffling and they turned their heads. Severus growled.

"Potter!" Severus spat bitterly, Jaci winced slightly, she wasn't used to his voice in that tone. "_What_ are you doing?" Snape growled. Just then Jaci cocked her head to one side. The boy stood up, looking at them, he showed them a rag.

"Cleaning up my swamp water sir," the boy replied. "I…" but he stopped talking as Jaci walked up to him and brushed his hair to one side, reveling the scar. She smiled.

"Cool, I figured you were Harry, I'm Jaci, Jaci Cortez," with that Jaci held out her hand for Harry to shake. Harry looked at her stunned, so did Snape. "Come on, don't leave me hanging, I don't bite." Harry smiled and shook her hand.

"I'm Harry Potter," Harry said. Jaci smiled.

"I know, oh, you can get back to cleaning up your swamp water now." Jaci grinned broadly and Harry was flashed with white, straight teeth. He smiled slowly back and went to picking up his water. Jaci turned to face Severus again. She grinned at him and he couldn't help but smile.

Underneath the desk, Harry watched the scene in amazement, Snape was smiling! Not his usual bear of teeth, not his strained fake smile, but a true genuine smile! It was amazing, this was the side of Snape that no one had ever seen before and here he was witnessing it!

"How did you get here?" Severus asked her. Jaci grinned.

"I flew over to London, found the Leaky Cauldron and Apperated to Hogsmead." Severus shook his head.

"Only you." He mumbled. Jaci laughed. Harry enjoyed it, it was rich and full.

"Severus can I stay with you for a while?" Jaci whispered. Severus' eyes went wide. He walked Jaci to one side of the room as Harry collected his bags and began to walk out.

"What's wrong?" Harry heard Snape mumble.

"It's my father and…Him." Harry cleared the door, shocked, Him, could she mean Voldemort? Harry shook his head, no of course not. He began running to the Common Room to tell Ron and Hermione what had happened when he crashed into someone.

"Hey! Watch it!" a girl said. Harry stepped back, and picked up the book he had made her drop.

"Sorry," he looked up and held his breath. The girl standing in front of him was rather breath taking. He quickly looked at her robe and saw she was in Slytherin! She glared at him.

"It's okay, I guess, just watch where you're going next time okay?" she asked. Harry nodded, still holding his breath. With that the girl walked away.

Jaci turned away from Severus' pissed off face. She had just finished telling him why she had left her home, why she was here instead of America and he was pissed. She closed her eyes and he slammed his fist into the wall, again and again, until his knuckles were bloody and bruised. She quickly walked over to him, and drew him into her arms. He held onto her as she began to sob.

"Don't cry," he whispered into her ear. She shuddered and only held on to him tighter and cried harder. He sighed and kissed the top of her head softly and waited until her sobs stopped.

Dumbledore knocked softly on the door of one of his trusted friends, but when he didn't answer, Albus merely walked in. He stood at the doorway for a few minutes, smiling, there was his trusted friend…in the arms of a woman. They hadn't noticed him, Severus was holding on to her and she was crying. Dumbledore waited patiently as he heard the woman's sobbing cease and Severus mumble something comforting in her ear and he cleared his throat softly.

Both Severus and the woman turned and jumped apart. Dumbledore smiled and walked completely into the room and shut the door. Severus led the woman to a seat and handed her a handkerchief and she began to dry her tears.

"Umm, Headmaster, how, how nice to see you, how are you?" Severus said. Dumbledore smiled.

"Fine Severus, and you?"

"Uh, just, just fine." Just then Jaci stood and walked to be next to Severus, he immediately put his arm around her waist, and then blushed when he had realized what it was he had done, but he didn't remove it. "Headmaster, this is, um, Miss Jacqueline Cortez from Laredo, Texas in America." Dumbledore smiled. He walked over to the woman and shook her hand. Jaci smiled up at him.

"Hello Miss Cortez, welcome to Hogwarts." Dumbledore looked up at Severus, then frowned. "Severus, your knuckles." Dumbledore pointed to the blood falling off Severus' hand and onto the floor. Severus quickly hid his hand.

"It's nothing Headmaster, please have a seat." Severus quickly waved for Dumbledore to take his desk seat, but he refused as he always did and sat down where Jaci had sat, she followed his lead and sat down next to him.

Jaci tried not to stare at the man sitting next to her who was making small talk with Severus. She was sitting next to the Albus Dumbledore! This was a once in a lifetime experience for someone who had come from the rubble of the United States.

"What about you Miss Cortez?" Dumbledore suddenly asked. Jaci jumped slightly. She blushed and Dumbledore smiled.

"I'm sorry, what was the question?" Jaci asked.

"Which Muggle candy do you prefer?" Dumbledore asked. Jaci tried not to let her mouth hang open. Dumbledore was asking her about Muggle candy? Wow. Jaci then smiled.

"Well I like anything with chocolate like Three Musketeers or Snickers. What about you Mr. Dumbledore?"

"Oh please, call me Albus. I prefer lemon drops." He smiled widely, then he looked at the clock on Severus' wall. "Oh my, it's time for dinner. Miss Cortez will you be joining us?" Jaci smiled.

"Oh Headmaster, I was hoping that Miss Cortez could stay with…with me for a while." Severus tried not to avoid Dumbledore's eyes, but it was hard, Dumbledore was grinning like he'd just won the mother load of lemon drops.

"Of course, we'll be glad to have you as long as you like Miss Cortez." Dumbledore smiled at Jaci and she grinned.

"Thank you…Albus."

"May I escort both of you to dinner?" Severus asked. Dumbledore smiled.

"You two go ahead, I'll be there in a few moments, I have something I need to check." With the he walked out of the room, leaving Severus staring at Jaci. She laughed and Severus smiled.

"What's so funny?" he asked, coming up behind her and nuzzling her neck slowly.

"The look on your face Severus." Jaci touched the hand around her waist and gasped. "Oh Severus, you're still bleeding." Severus placed his hand behind his back quickly.

"It's nothing." Jaci shook her head.

"At least let me treat it for you." Severus sighed. He nodded and held out his hand. Jaci placed some ointment and then wrapped the knuckles up. When she was finished, he held out his arm and they walked out to the Great Hall.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked up, as did everyone else, as Snape walked in with the woman named Jaci. They could hear muttering and whispering as people who didn't have the class ask who she was, and the people who _did_ have the class tell them the story.

It looked like Snape was ignoring everyone but Jaci, she had her arm looped through his, leaning against him, talking to him in whispers and he was trying to keep a stern face, but with her telling him little jokes, it was very difficult.

As they sat down at the teacher's table, Severus saw that there was an extra seat for Jaci on his left. He looked over at Dumbledore who smiled at him. Severus shook his head and gave a little grin, which disappeared as soon as it had appeared. He led Jaci to her seat, pushed it in for her, then he walked to his seat. Everyone was still whispering as the food appeared and everyone began to eat. Everyone would occasionally glance up at Snape and the woman.

"Harry, I just can't picture it mate, I'm sorry," Ron said to Harry as they ate. Harry sighed.

"I know, but it was, I'm telling you, he was grinning his head off. He was holding her like, like a…a…" Harry struggled to find the word.

"A girlfriend?" Hermione put in.

"Yes, no, like, well, like he cared for her deeply," Harry finished. Ron shook his head and looked up at the teacher's table.

"No mate, I still can't imagine it," Ron said, then he moved to focus on his piece of pie. Harry sighed and shook his head. He looked up at the Slytherin table and held his breath once more. There was that girl again! She was sitting next to Draco Malfoy, and then there was another girl on Draco's left. Draco looked up at that exact moment and smiled smugly at Harry. Harry glared and looked down.

Great! Now Malfoy was going to think that Harry was jealous because he was surrounded by girls. Who cared? Malfoy was a jerk, all talk no action. Harry sighed, but that girl! He had to know who she was! He shook his head, wait, she's a Slytherin, no, better not.

Jaci looked up from her plate of delicious food and cocked her head to one side. She watched the students talk amongst their own houses. She shook her head, most of them weren't talking to other houses. Jaci rolled her eyes, she wished people wouldn't judge other people just because they were different.

She spotted Harry quickly, he was sitting with a pretty girl with brown hair kept back in a simple braid and a red headed boy. He was talking to them and occasionally the redhead would looked up at Snape, a look of astonishment on his face. Jaci smiled one of the times he looked up and the redhead blushed and looked down. Jaci sighed, she had finished eating, but Severus was talking with Dumbledore again.

She let her mind wander and saw that more and more people were staring at her because they had finished eating. Jaci sighed and rolled her eyes once more, she hated too much attention. The only time she liked being center of attention was when she was hurt, or was excited about something and wanted everyone to know about it.

When it looked like everyone was finished eating, Dumbledore stood and a hush quickly fell. Everyone was silent, looking up at him, waiting for him to speak. Dumbledore smiled and so did everyone, well mostly everyone, a few boys sitting at the table with Snake patches did not.

"I would like to welcome Miss Jacqueline Cortez from Laredo, Texas, in the United States to Hogwarts. She is a good friend of Professor Snape's and will be treated with the same respect any of you would give to any of your teachers. I'm sure she would love to answer any questions you have on where she lives and would enjoy helping you out in anyway. Please, let us show her our hospitality." Dumbledore began to clap his hands, and so did everyone else, even Severus. Jaci blushed and smiled.

"Thank you," she said. Everyone smiled up at her, including the boys at the Snake table.

"Now that you have been watered and fed, off with you all, it is time to sleep." Dumbledore called out. Everyone laughed. Some students began to file out of the hall, others lagged behind, taking that last bit of pie or talking.

Jaci saw Harry and stood from her seat, she walked down slowly to where he and his two friends were sitting. She smiled at Harry, and his other two friends stayed quiet.

"Hello Harry," Jaci said, grinning.

"Uh, hello Miss Cortez," Harry said. Jaci wrinkled her nose.

"Please, call me Jaci, Miss Cortez makes me sound old," she and Harry laughed. Just then Harry remembered his friends.

"Oh, this is Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger," Harry said, making proper introductions. Jaci smiled. She shook Ron's hand, who turned red at the touch and then hugged Hermione, shocking the girl.

"Oh, sorry," Jaci said sheepishly. "Us Hispanics always greet or meet people like that. Well the woman do at least, to other woman." Jaci grinned and they all smiled.

"Hispanic?" Hermione asked after a second. "I thought you were from America." Jaci grinned.

"I am, but my bloodline descends down to Spaniards, so I'm Hispanic, mainly, my mother was American, my father was Mexican, so I'm a bit of both." Ron smiled. He liked this woman, she spoke to them like they were equals, not just students. Just then a shadow fell over them and Ron gulped.

Severus was standing behind Jaci, he put a hand on her shoulder and she looked up, she smiled as she saw who it was. She placed her hand on his and rubbed at the bandage that she had placed.

"Jaci, it's time to go," Severus said, glaring at Potter, Granger, and Weasley, daring them to say anything about what they were seeing, but they knew better. Jaci sighed.

"Ok, I'll see you guys tomorrow then, good night." She stood and waved back to them with her free hand, she was going to loop her other arm with Severus' but she decided to take his hand instead. Severus looked down at her as she entwined her fingers with his. This was going to look great to the entire staff, not to mention the students! He wanted to pull away, but it was Jaci who was holding his hand! Jaci who he'd missed and hadn't seen in so long. He sighed and just continued walking down the hall with his hand in hers.

McGonagall looked plainly shocked as she watched Snape and Miss Cortez walk away. Dumbledore chuckled softly.

"Minerva, flies will fly into your mouth with it hanging like that," Dumbledore whispered to her and McGonagall quickly shut her mouth, but continued to look amazed. She turned to look at Dumbledore who just smiled softly. He stood and began to make his way out of the Great Hall. All the students looked up to him as if he were to answer their questions on Snape and the woman all though no one spoke. Dumbledore merely laughed his way out.

Severus sighed as he and Jaci finally made it to his quarters, all the portraits had been gasping and pointing at him, not to mention looking at him weird. He quickly said the password to the portrait of a man brewing a potion, the portrait swung forward and he and Jaci stepped into his lounge area. Severus didn't allow Jaci to get a glimpse of the lounge area, he took her straight to the kitchen, sat her down at the table and got themselves two glasses and some butterbeer.

"Now, you are going to tell me everything that's happened since I left," Severus said after Jaci had drunken more than half of her glass of butterbeer. Jaci sighed and placed the glass down.

"Nothing much has happened Severus, just…just what I told you." Jaci looked away with tears in her eyes and Severus cursed himself. How could he have brought that up for her again, as painful as it was for her to tell, without him having to remind her? Severus stood quickly and wrapped his arm around her.

"I'm sorry, that was a stupid question to ask. I just wanted to know if you were still doing okay and who and what was going on in your life." Jaci looked up at him curiously.

"What do you mean by who?" Jaci asked. Severus looked away.

"I just wanted to know if you had found anyone else, you know cause I wasn't there." Jaci shook her head.

"How could you even think that Severus?" She sighed and stood up, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him gently. Then she placed her head on his chest, listening to the sound of his heart beating.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for just leaving you, I should have stayed I should have…" Jaci cut him off with another kiss.


	2. Too Damn Hot

Chapter 1: Too damn hot 

Severus Snape looked up, disgusted, at what he saw. How did he get himself into this situation? He rolled his eyes as he remembered how. 

The Dark Lord was spreading his army, not only in Europe, but also in the rest of the world, and since Severus was one of his most loyal Death Eaters, The Dark Lord had given him the task of going out to the United States to settle many of his affairs that were pending there. Severus growled. 

He stepped out of the building and almost gasped in amazement. It was scorching hot here! His hand immediately went up to unbutton his traveling jacket and he threw it over his back, growling. 

_Bloody Americans! How can they live like this? _

He began to make his way down the street, and then growled. There were so many cars here! How was he supposed to cross the road? He turned his head and saw a few people waiting by a corner, he decided to follow their lead. Soon he saw a contraption turn green, the cars stopped, and everyone began to walk. He gave himself a mental pat on the back for figuring that out. 

He looked up at the street signs, since he needed to find these people so that he could quickly close the deal, then go back home. But after half an hour, he realized that he was lost, and had no clue as to where he was going. He growled, he was going to have to ask for directions, something he hated to do. He sighed, oh well if he had to. 

He quickly walked to the nearest person; he was standing outside a large structure, with some kind of uniform on. Severus raised his eyebrow, but continued walking over to the man. 

"Hello there sir, how man I help you?" the man asked. Again Severus raised his eyebrow, but he didn't want to make a rude comment, especially when this man could help him. 

"Yes I'm afraid that I'm lost," Severus said. The man chuckled. 

"New comer huh?" 

"Yes." 

"Could tell by your accent. Well here, let me see the address." Severus showed him the piece of paper. The man whistled. "You're far, _far_ away from here, you'll have to take a taxi to get there." 

"Really?" he asked.  The man nodded. 

"Yes, this is a residential area, right now you're downtown. Here I'll get a taxi for you." The man walked to the sidewalk, whistled and a taxi appeared soon. Severus again raised his eyebrow. 

"Thank you," Severus said after the man gave the driver directions. The man nodded. 

"Sure, anytime, hope you have a nice time." With that he shut the door and the taxi lurched forward. 

Severus looked up as the man stopped the car. He raised his eyebrow again, this was a house, a nice tidy house by the looks of it. It was in a calm, peaceful neighborhood. He got out and paid the man who drove off as soon as he had the money in his hand. Severus looked up at the house again. 

It had two stories, it was a light blue, in fact it looked like the color of the sky. The shutters were a nice white along with the door frame. The garden was nice and tidy, with a humongous tree in the middle of the yard that had a platform nailed to it, then there were a few vines growing onto the house, there were also roses along the walk way. Severus had never seen a nicer house. He took a deep breath and began to make his way up to the door. 

Jaci groaned as she heard the doorbell ring. She was just about to plop down and watch a few well-chosen movies, was that so hard to ask for? She grumbled as she walked to the door and opened it. When she saw who was standing there, she caught her breath. 

The man standing there looked very out of place in his business like slacks and his crisp black shirt. He also looked like he was burning up, his shoulder lengthened hair was tousled and his pale face was beaded with sweat. Jaci cleared her throat. 

"Yes? May I help you?" she asked. 

Severus stared in amazement. The woman standing before him was beautiful! She was wearing a black tank top with short blue jean shorts. Her black hair was picked up into a messy ponytail and her eyes were mesmerizing, they were green with brown flecks in them. He couldn't find his voice and it took him a few seconds to recover. 

"Um, yes is this the Corntez residence?" he asked. Jaci huffed in annoyance. 

"Yes this is the CORTEZ residence and no we're not buying." Jaci moved to shut the door, but Severus quickly stopped her. 

"No wait, I'm sorry for mispronouncing your name, but I need to speak with your, well wait, are you Jake Cortez's wife?" Severus asked, looking at her up and down. Jaci made a disgusted face. 

"No, he's my father." 

"Oh, well then I need to speak with your father." 

"And on what business?" 

"Private," Severus said, glaring at her. Jaci glared right back. 

"Well, come in," she said. She opened the door wider and allowed him in. Severus almost fell to his knees praying because it was air conditioned inside. Jaci turned the lock and turned to look at him. "Unfortunately you're out of luck," she said calmly. 

"What?" 

"My father had to go out of town this morning he got an urgent call from your _Employer_, but don't worry, you're _employer_ told him to tell me to stay behind and wait for you here. Your _employer_ says to owl him the minute you get here, other than that, you're going to be staying here the next week or so." Jaci grinned smugly. "There is paper and ink on the table over there, and there's an owl right outside the back door, when you're done you can find me in the living room, until then." With that she walked away, leaving Severus to stare at her opened mouthed. 

What she's saying, it, it can't be true! I can't stay here, the Dark Lord better not make me stay here! 

A few hours later, Severus walked into the living room. Jaci noticed the defeated look on his face and smiled. 

"So you're staying huh?' she asked. Severus glared at her. Jaci laughed. "I told you, I just don't understand why people don't want to believe me these days." She shrugged and went back to watching the television. Severus continued to glare at her. "Are you going to glare at me all day or are you going to come and sit down and eat something?" 

For the first time Severus noticed a large saucepan on the table in front of her, his stomach growled loudly. Jaci smiled and Severus was almost embarrassed, but he quickly recovered. 

"What are we eating?" he asked, moving to sit by her. 

"Chicken," Jaci replied, helping herself to some. Severus looked at her shocked for a few moments. "What?" Jaci asked. 

"Where I come from, the hostess serves the guests first," Severus said. Jaci raised her eyebrow. 

"Really?" she asked, leaning close to him, _very_ close to him. Severus could do nothing but nodded. She was so close that he could see the brown specks clearly through the green. "Well sweet heart, you're not in London anymore are you? You're in Texas, and you're in Laredo, so I suggest that you stop being a snobby little ass and serve yourself cause I ain't your _hostess_." Jaci said. And with that she turned back and began to eat. 

Severus sat there, looking at her stunned for a few seconds, then pissed off the next. How dare she talk to him like that! How dare she insult him, he was her guest! He stood up. 

"Oh don't get started, sit your ass down and serve yourself you bloody fool," Jaci said. Severus growled when she used an accent on the word 'bloody.' 

"Are you mocking me?" he asked. Jaci turned to look at him innocently, too innocently. 

"No, of course not, _why_ would I do a thing like that?" she asked in a sugary coated voice. Severus growled once more. Jaci sighed and rolled her eyes. She set her plate down and stood up as well. Severus glared at her and Jaci did the same. 

"Well, come on," she said. Severus was confused for a second. 

"What?" 

"Go on, hit me!" Jaci said. Severus looked at her shocked. 

"What?" 

"Are you going to hit me or not?" 

"Why would I hit you?"

"Because I _'mocked'_ you, '_insulted'_ you, come on already," Jaci said. 

"I'm not going to hit you!" 

"Fine!" With that, Jaci pounced on him. He flew back onto the couch with Jaci on top of him, the air knocked out of his lungs. Jaci sat on his stomach, quite happy with herself. She grinned. "Next time," she said, moving off of him, "hit me." 


	3. Busted

Chapter 2: Busted 

Severus didn't say anything after Jaci had pounced on him. He had just sat up and quietly served himself some food. While they ate, Jaci was watching something on the square thing that he knew was called a 'TV'. He shook his head and she burst out laughing. She had seen him and stopped. She raised an eyebrow at him and he did the same.  

"What?" she asked. Severus shook his head. 

"How can you stand to listen to those people talk and talk and talk?" he asked gesturing to the TV. 

"How can you stand to be a stuffy stuck up jerk?" Jaci asked with false politeness. Severus gaped at her open-mouthed. "Oh would you stop that already? You make me feel like I grew an extra head or something." She rolled her eyes and went back to watching the TV. Severus sighed and shook his head. When he finished eating, Jaci switched off the television. Severus looked up at her. 

"Come, I'll show you your room," Jaci said. She stood up and he followed her up the stairs. She led him to the door on the right from the stairs. He looked to the left and saw there was another one there as well. Jaci opened the door for him and he walked in. 

It was a cozy room, with a queen-sized bed. The window faced the backyard and he noticed that there was a pool. The curtains were a soft yellow and the walls were a light green with white. The bedding was green, yellow, white, and a soft blue. The carpets on the floor matched the blue on the bed. 

"The door there leads to your own bathroom and the door that's closer to the bed is the closet," Jaci said suddenly, making him jump a bit. 

"Uh thank you," Severus said. Jaci nodded. 

"My room's on the left, but unless you're dying or in need of dire medical services, don't go into my room," Jaci said. "Dinner's at 7, see you there. Oh and by the way, the name's Jaci Cortez." 

"Severus Snape." Jaci nodded. 

With that she walked out, leaving Severus to his thoughts. He sighed and heaved his suitcase onto the bed. He began to unpack his clothes.  When he was finished, he walked to the window and gazed out of it. Then he noticed Jaci walked over to one of the pool chairs wearing a long white robe. She took out her wand from one of the pockets and made a table float near her, and then she turned on the radio. After that was finished, she transfigured the chair so that she could lie flat on it. When she was done with that, she put her wand in her pocket. 

Severus' eyes went wide as she began to remove her robe, she was barely covered in what she wore. It was a black bikini, but to him it was a scrap of material covering only what was needed and nothing more. He continued to watch as she flipped onto her back and cradled her head in her arms. He gazed down at her body; it was bronze and well toned. After a few minutes he snapped himself out of it. He shook his head and closed the window shutters. He walked back to his bed and laid down. Suddenly he was overcome with tiredness. He soon fell asleep. 

 Jaci looked at her watch and then up at the ceiling. Did she or did she not tell that man that dinner was at 7? She growled. She stalked up to his room. She walked in without knocking, but when she saw him, all of her anger fled her. 

He was lying on his side, one hand underneath his pillow, the other by his side. His mouth was slightly open. He had taken off his shoes and she noticed that he wore black socks. But it was his face that had her mesmerized. Dark lashes, dark brows, all against the palest of skin. His lips were full, firm, and she wondered what it would be like to be kissed by him. His hair tumbled down into his face and down his back. Jaci smiled. She walked over to him. 

She conjured up a blanket and gently smoothed it on him. He shifted slightly, but didn't wake up. Jaci smiled again and gently dropped a kiss on his forehead. With that she walked out, turning off the lights and closing the door. 

Severus awoke, he had the strangest dream that Jaci had kissed him, he shook his head. He looked at the clock and groaned it was 8! Hadn't Jaci said dinner was at 7? Quickly he stood, ran a hand through his hair and ran downstairs. He found Jaci in the kitchen, sitting at the counter. 

"I'm sorry," he said. Jaci looked up at him. "For being late, I sort of fell asleep." Jaci rolled her eyes. 

"Sure, here, I saved you some food." She got up and walked to the oven. She took out a plate. 

"Thank you, what is it?" Severus asked. Sitting down at the table. Jaci walked over and placed it in front of him. Severus took out his wand and a glass of whiskey appeared along with a fork and a knife. 

"Steak with potatoes," Jaci said, she sat across from him, watching him eat. Severus quickly cut into the piece of meat and shoveled it into his mouth. 

"Mmm, this is delicious." Jaci smiled. Severus noticed that it wasn't smug or fake, that it was a true smile, and he liked it. 

"Thank you." 

"Where did you learn to cook so good?" 

"Family, where else?" Severus smiled. 

They continued the small talk until Severus' meal was gone. He quickly stood and put his plate in the sink, along with his glass. Jaci stood and began to wash the dishes. Severus quickly helped her pick up the table. Jaci soon finished and she smiled as she saw he had been sitting patiently at the counter waiting. 

"Would you like some fruit salad?" she asked him. Severus smiled. 

"Sure." 

Soon, Jaci was in her room, on her bed, but her mind refused her to rest. She kept thinking about this Severus person and what he was doing working with the Dark Lord. Yes, she knew all about Voldemort and it sucked. She hated the man, but what could she do? Her father was in leagues with the man. But that was all about to change. 

But what about this man Severus? He didn't seem the kind to go off and kill people just because they were deprived of magic. She sighed and shook her head. She couldn't understand why anyone would want to do that, want to hurt people because they were different. She turned on her side and looked out the window. She was shocked to see that Severus was in her backyard. She quickly stood and walked to the window. She watched him as he sat down by the pool and looked up at the half moon. 

Severus had the feeling he was being watched, but he didn't care. For all he knew it could be the Dark Lord, or someone sent out to spy on him. He rolled his eyes, he didn't care right now, right now was time for him to relax.  He sighed and looked down into the pool water. He gently placed the tip of his finger on the surface of the water and smiled happily as the ripples began. 

He contented himself for the next ten minutes by watching the ripples on the pool. When he was done, he stood and began to make his way inside, but something stopped him. He looked up at the window he knew was Jaci's and was shocked to see she was looking at him. He caught his breath. 

_Uh-oh, busted! _Jaci quickly raised her hand and waved at him. She saw Severus smile and return the wave. He disappeared into the shadows and Jaci could hear the back door opening, closing, and locking. She then heard him walk upstairs to his room and shut the door. 

Jaci sat on her bed, that was a close one! She smiled as she remembered how he had looked so dazzled by the ripples in the water. He looked so innocent. How could someone like him be in the leagues with Voldemort? She shook her head, she didn't care, she wasn't supposed to care. She sighed and finally her mind let her body rest. 


	4. Proper Witch My Ass

Chapter 3: Proper witch my a$$ 

Severus awoke to a heavenly smell. He quickly got up and took a fast shower. He then dressed in a pair of dark slacks and a gray shirt. With that he went downstairs and into the kitchen, where Jaci had her back to him. He watched her for a few seconds; she was dressed in hip-hugging jeans, a white halter-top, and black flip-flops. He cleared his throat. 

Jaci turned around, surprised; she hadn't expected her guest to be an early riser. But she smiled. 

"Good morning, I hope you like pancakes," she said. Severus smiled. 

"Pancakes are just fine." He went into the fridge and took out the syrup, butter, and orange juice. He quickly set the table. Jaci leaned over the counter, watching him. 

"So, who taught you _your_ way around the kitchen?" Jaci asked. Severus smiled. 

"My mother." Jaci smiled. She got the pancakes and went to the table. She quickly served him a stack and then herself. 

Severus was full! He had never eaten so much in his life! But it had all been good. He looked over at Jaci and tried not to gap as she served herself another two pancakes. Wow could she pack it all in. When Jaci was finally finished, they both cleared the table and washed the dishes. 

"Well, I didn't expect you to be up so early," Jaci started as they finished putting away the dishes. Severus smiled. 

"Sorry, I'm an early riser." 

"Well, I was going to go to the store, we're running low on food, do you want to come with me? _Or_ you could spend a boring day here," Jaci added. Severus pondered on it for a moment. 

"All right then." Jaci smiled. 

"But you'll have to go change," she pointed out. Severus looked at her confused. 

"Why?" 

"Because it's a 110 degrees outside, you'll boil in that clothes." 

"But, I don't have anything else." Jaci rolled her eyes. She took out her wand and first pointed it to his pants. She transfigured them into loose fitting jeans, and then she transfigured his shirt to a nice light green t-shirt. 

Severus immediately felt cooler in this clothing; in his old clothing he had felt stuffy. He looked down at his feet, all he had were business shoes, but Jaci quickly took care of that too. She transfigured them into new Nikes. Severus smiled. 

"Thank you," he said. Jaci smiled. 

"You're welcome, now come on let's get going." Jaci walked through the house, locking up and Severus ran up to grab his wallet and run a brush through his hair. When he was done, he quickly ran downstairs and found Jaci turning off the lights, she didn't see him and turned quickly, she lost her balance, and Severus caught her. 

Jaci looked up into Severus' eyes, they were pure black! How strange. She put on a smile. 

"Thank you, I have my clumsy moments as well," she said. Severus laughed. 

"You're welcome." 

"Thank you for saying you're welcome," Jaci said, a small glint in her eyes. Severus cocked his head to the side and looked at her, but then he got it, he smiled. 

"You're welcome for saying thank you." Jaci laughed. 

"Wow, you're like the only person who's figured that out, that's pretty sweet." With that they walked out the front door. 

Boy was Jaci right about it being hot out, he was glad he was wearing what he was, he would have died in his old clothing. He looked to Jaci who handed him a bottle of water. 

"Keep yourself hydrated, I don't want you dying on me," Jaci said. Severus laughed and accepted the bottle of water. 

Jaci led him to a car that he hadn't noticed yesterday, was parked in the driveway. It was a silver car, he didn't know brands or anything, but he saw the words GT and a horse on the side, he shrugged. He noticed though, that the top of the car was black, and it was a clothy material. As soon as they got into the car, Jaci let the air condition go full blast for Severus, he didn't noticed that he sighed, but Jaci smiled when he did. 

She started the engine and they headed off. Severus said nothing, but looked out the window, it was so amazing to see so many cars, and the biggest trucks he'd ever seen in his life going so fast. Not that he hadn't seen any cars or trucks in London, but these were going so fast! And Jaci was right along with them. He had tried not to gasp out loud when she made the sharpest turn of her life going down the highway, but he had failed, it left Jaci laughing. He had glared at her, but then turned his head to continue looking at the cars passing by. 

"Here's our first stop," Jaci said, she pulled into a parking lot of a huge store. Severus looked up at it and saw the letter H-E-B. He cocked his head to the side. 

They walked into the brightly lit store and Severus noticed how cool it was in there and how many people there were. He stayed by Jaci's side through most of it, wondering if Muggles really did buy all these things. 

He was rather curious to see how much money that Jaci was holding in her hand and how much they were going to pay for all the food. Jaci caught him looking at them and smiled. When they were done, he helped her carry the bags to the car and place them in. 

After that they went to two other stops and then they headed back to the house, Severus was shocked to find out that it was already 3 in the afternoon! It felt as if they had just left the house. He helped Jaci take everything back inside and then he helped her put the things away. 

"Are you hungry?" Jaci asked him, he nodded. She sighed. "Come on, I'll make something really quick." She made spaghetti and she used her magic to speed up the process. Soon they were sitting at the table, eating their food. Jaci looked out at the pool and gazed at it. Severus noticed this, but when Jaci saw he was looking at her, she quickly frowned and looked down at her plate. He quickly finished eating and began to put things away. He noticed that Jaci was still gazing out to the pool as she washed her dishes. He mumbled an excuse and retreated to his room to write a letter to Albus. While he was up in his room, he heard splashing and looked out his window. 

Jaci was wearing that bathing suit that barely covered her again, but this time she was swimming in the pool; she was swimming with long even strokes. Severus found himself mesmerized for a while, but he quickly snapped out of it and finished writing his letter, he growled as he realized he would have to use her owl and the owl was outside. Sighing he began to make his way downstairs.  

Jaci looked up as she heard the back door closing. She watched as Severus walked to her owl and coaxed it into take a letter for him. She watched him watch the bird, and then began to turn to go inside. 

"Do you want to come in?" Jaci heard herself asking him. Severus stopped dead in his tracks. He turned to look at her. 

"What?" 

"Do you want to come in for a swim?" Jaci forced herself to say. Severus raised his eyebrow. 

"Uh-, I don't have any clothing for it." Jaci knew he was going to say that so she swam over to her wand before he could finish his sentence and transfigured his pants into swimming shorts. 

"Now you do," she said. Severus rolled his eyes and sighed, but he nodded. 

"Sure, why not?" 

Jaci couldn't believe how white his legs where! I mean she knew he was pale, but not this pale. A few hours in the sun would do him good. She tried not to watch as he walked to a pool chair and began to undo his shoes, take his socks off, his watch and finally his shirt. She saw him reach for a rubber band she had on the table and place his hair back in a ponytail. She then began to study his body, he was a bit thin, but he had a broad chest and wide shoulders and it wasn't a bad picture from where she stood. 

Severus began to make his way slowly into the pool, the water wasn't freezing but it wasn't warm either. He looked up and noticed that Jaci wasn't in the pool, he looked everywhere but couldn't find her, he was still on the first step, and he hadn't even gotten his waist wet yet. 

"Looking for me?" a voice whispered directly into his ear. He tried to turn around, but he was launched into the pool face first. When he surfaced sputtering he saw Jaci standing at the edge laughing her head off. He growled and glared at her. 

"I-I'm sorry," Jaci managed to choke, "I just couldn't help myself." She reached over and extended her hand. "Truce?" she asked sincerely. Severus smiled and took her hand. 

"Truce." Then he pulled her into the pool and grinned as she came up sputtering as well. She glared at him. 

"That wasn't very friendly." 

"And neither are you," Severus put in. Jaci glared at him and he glared right back. Severus sneered at her and began to swim laps. Jaci soon followed his example. Before they knew it they were unconsciously racing each other, every time that they came up for breath they would check to see if they were the first ones to reach the end of the pool. It continued like that for about an hour or so until neither of them could feel their legs or their arms from all the burning. They sat on the second step with their heads leaning back against the pool wall trying to catch their breaths. 

"You're good," Jaci said. 

"So are you." 

"I know." Severus lifted his left eyebrow. 

"Modest are we?" 

"_Very_." Severus rolled his eyes. He turned around and began to get out. Jaci followed him, but she stretched a bit. She smiled to herself as she felt him looking, but when she stood suddenly to try and catch him off guard, he was drying himself off. She raised her eyebrow, but shrugged it off and walked inside. 

Severus was going to kill Voldemort for making him stay here! He didn't want to be here in this horrid place with all the heat and the sun he wanted to be back in beautiful freezing London and be inside his castle with his quarters and in the dungeons with his potions. He growled as he made his way downstairs to the kitchen. 

Jaci looked up as Severus walked back into the kitchen. He had pulled his hair back into the ponytail again and it looked nice on him. She noticed that he was wearing blue jeans and a red shirt now she smiled mentally to herself but kept her face stony and remained quiet. 

Severus looked up and mumbled something that sounded like a 'hello.' Jaci inwardly sighed she was going to go insane if they kept this up. As he sat down to begin eating Jaci decided to make conversation. 

"So…what do you do for a living?" she asked. Severus looked up at her a bit shocked at first, but he quickly recovered. 

"I'm a Potions Master, I work at Hogwarts."  Jaci's eyes widened. 

"Not uh! That's so awesome! I've always loved Potions and at Hogwarts? Damn that's fucking sweet." Jaci noticed Severus wince. She thought it was strange but continued. "So do you get to do rare potions and like blow people's brains out? That's awesome. Here they only taught us crappy kinds of potions but I'm sure at Hogwarts they taught you damn amazing stuff!" 

"WOULD YOU STOP CURSING!" Severus shouted.  Jaci looked at Severus strange. 

"Why? I'm not hurting any fucking body." Severus growled. 

"Don't you have any dignity and pride?" he asked.  Jaci got mad. 

"Of course I fucking do!" 

"Then stop cursing! Didn't your parents teach you anything about pride?" Jaci stood up and Severus stood as well. Even though he was taller than her she stood her ground and glared up at him. 

"You're a fucking asshole. You have no right telling me what I can and can not do, my dad know that I curse shit up and down, you bastard, but he can't stop me and neither can you!" 

"You're worthless! You have no pride or dignity…" He stopped short as Jaci's fist collided with his stomach. Severus doubled over, trying to catch his breath. 

"You fucking piece of shit.  Don't you tell me I have no pride, don't you tell me that I have no dignity because you have no idea how much those two things mean to me!" Severus glared up at her. 

"A proper witch wouldn't…" 

"Look around you fucking idiot you're not in London, you're not in shit-hole Europe anymore you're in _Laredo_, here if you don't know how to fucking tell assholes like you off then your _are_ worth nothing. Stop pretending you're in your little _'proper'_ European world 'cause you're not. Now I'm going to my room and I don't want to be bothered!" Jaci turned on her heel and walked calmly to her room. 


	5. Thunder Rolls and Burglars Come

Chapter 4:Thunder rolls & burglars come 

Severus sat up on the bed, that's it he was leaving no matter what Voldemort said. But then he shuddered as he thought of all the things that Voldemort would do to him, no he would stay. He growled though, that little _witch_, he was going to have to stand her for the next week or so. He groaned and stood to go down to the kitchen to get something to drink. 

Jaci looked up at she heard someone walk into the kitchen; quickly she thought it was a burglar. She stood and launched herself onto the person.  

"Hey!" they rolled on the floor for a while, Severus and Jaci struggling a bit with each other. Finally Severus pinned Jaci's arm to her sides and sat up over her. 

"What's your problem?" he spat. Jaci blushed, but in the dark Severus couldn't tell. 

"I thought you were a fucking burglar." Jaci said, looking away. 

"Well you were wrong!" 

"No, really? Get the hell off of me." Jaci began to squirm but Severus held onto her and wouldn't get off. She mesmerized him somehow; he felt his heart begin to pound as Jaci turned her head to look back at him. Jaci caught her breath. Some hair had gotten loose from his ponytail and it was falling into his face as well as hers, it felt soft and smooth.

She didn't know who moved in first but she didn't care all she knew was that his lips were on hers and she was kissing him back. For a man who seemed cold and cruel, he was being soft and gentle. He gently ran his hands up to tangle into her hair while her hands curled around his neck to bring him closer. 

When they came up for air, Severus was in shock, he hadn't imagined himself kissing her ever, but now that they had, well he liked it. He looked down into her eyes again. 

Severus' eyes bore into her own and Jaci felt he was reading her soul, piercing her mind, she shuddered at the force they had. Slowly Severus moved off of her and stood, offering his hand for her, she took it and he lifted her up with ease. They didn't say anything to each other at all. Finally Jaci couldn't stand the silence. 

"Why did you kiss me?" She jammed her hands into her pockets and looked down.

"Why did you kiss me back?" 

"Well, you started it."

"Did I really?" 

Jaci growled, but she was back in his arms, arms around his neck once more. Severus brought her closer, loving the silky feel of her hair. But suddenly Jaci pulled back. 

"I'm going to bed now," she whispered softly and with that she ran off, leaving Severus staring after her.

Jaci awoke and quickly showered and dressed, she ran downstairs to find Severus sitting there. She inwardly cursed, she was hoping to leave early and not come back until late that night so she could avoid talking with Severus, but it seemed that he had gotten just as little sleep as she had. She quickly made coffee and drank it standing. She sighed; she could still feel his large calloused hands running through her hair so softly, gliding over her back. Then she froze; yes she could still feel them because that's what he was doing right now. 

Severus hadn't known what had drove him to walk over to her and begin running his hands in her hair again, but he couldn't stop himself. He had felt Jaci freeze, but didn't stop, he couldn't. He continued to stroke her hair until her back wasn't so stiff and she was leaning into the touch.

Suddenly, Jaci tuned in his arms and lifted her face up to his. Once again Severus held his breath as her eyes pierced through his.

"I…I have to go out, I'll be back soon," Jaci said softly. 

"Let me go with you." Jaci shook her head. She walked over to her keys and picked them up. Severus followed her. "Please." Again Jaci shook her head. "Why not?" 

"I have to think." 

"About?" Jaci turned to face him. 

"What do you think?" Severus shook his head. 

"No, you don't have to think." Jaci sighed and began to walk away, but Severus stopped her. "No, stay here, come on." He led her to the living room and sat her down on the couch. "I'll make breakfast." 

"I'm not hungry." Jaci stood. "And I want to go out." Again Severus blocked her way out. 

"No, I don't want you to leave." Jaci glared at him. 

"I'm going to leave if I fucking want t…" 

Severus' lips were on hers again, bringing her closer to him, crushing her body with his. Jaci was caught between him and the wall behind her, she slowly ran her hands up to his hair. Severus growled as he felt her bring him closer, but he allowed her to. 

Jaci didn't know how, but they ended up on the couch, her half lying on him, but she couldn't let this happen. She quickly moved away. Severus looked at her confused. 

"What's wrong?" he moved up and wrapped his arms around her waist, bringing her closer and he began to kiss her neck slowly. 

"We…I…we can't do this," Jaci managed to gasp out as his lips moved up to her face. Severus smiled. 

"Yes we can." He turned her head to face him and kissed her gently, leaving her breathless. Jaci looked up at him, shocked. This man was supposed to be a Death Eater, one of Voldemort's top Death Eaters, and here he was being sweet and gentle. She gazed up into his black eyes, drowning in them. 

Severus didn't know what to do now, Jaci was gazing at him so strangely, he'd never had anyone look at him like that and it shocked him. He was shocked even more when Jaci moved up and kissed him. He groaned and ran his hands down her back, bringing her closer and leaning up against the couch. 

He brought her close, cupped her face gently with his hands and kissed her. When they parted for breath, Severus still had his hands on her face, Jaci quickly glanced down at his left hand and saw it, the mark. She gasped and quickly stood up, getting away from him. 

Severus stood as well, he followed her, confused once more. He could see the shock and horror on her face and he didn't understand. 

"What's wrong?" he asked, his voice throaty. Jaci shook her head. 

"I…I can't do this Severus, you're a…a…Death Eater," she whispered. Severus stood still, he understood now, he got it, and it stung so bad. He shook his head and looked down at the ground. Then the anger overtook him, he growled and slammed his fist into the wall, scaring Jaci who jumped back a bit. He looked up at her, his eyes full of pain and sorrow. 

"I understand, don't worry." With that he turned on his heel and walked up the stairs, leaving Jaci there, still half afraid. 

Severus lay on his bed, the lights were off, he hadn't moved from that spot since the morning, he hadn't gotten up to eat or drink, anything, he just lay down thinking about how miserable he was, what a fool he had been and how much he wished he had nothing to do with Voldemort. He sighed, what an idiot he was! He turned on his side, the first movement he'd made all day, to look out the window. The sun had set already, the moon was out and the stairs were shining bright like they always did. 

Severus heard his doorknob turn gently and the door creak open, but he didn't move or make a sound. He heard soft footsteps as Jaci approached. He knew it was her, he could smell the perfume she had been wearing, could smell her. 

"Severus?" Jaci asked in a small voice. Severus made no noise, he didn't move at all. He heard Jaci sigh. He then felt a soft blanket being smoothed over him and then Jaci walked around the bed to face him. He quickly shut his eyes as he felt Jaci in front of him. Then he felt soft lips on his forehead and his eyes sprung open in surprise. 

Jaci almost stepped back, he had scared her, one-second his eyes were close and the next they popped open. She stared down at him, not saying anything. 

"What do you want?" Severus muttered. 

"You haven't eaten all day, I just wanted to come and see if you wanted some soup," Jaci explained in a whisper. 

"No." Jaci nodded. She turned around to go. "Don't leave." She barely heard the request she froze and turned to look at him.  

"What?" 

"Don't leave." 

"Why?"

"I don't want you to." Jaci cocked her head to the side and looked at him curiously. "Please." 

"You know, you are the strangest Death Eater I've ever met. All of dad's other friends are so rude, they would touch and grab me right in front of him, but you…you're different." Severus shot up. 

"What do you mean they would grab you? Who?" he growled. Jaci stepped back shocked. She hadn't expected him to do this. 

"I…I don't know, some men." Severus growled and shook his head. 

"Those barbarians." Jaci watched him, curiosity in her eyes. 

"You wouldn't do that?" she whispered. 

"No! For Merlin's sake what do you take me for? Some bastard?" Severus glared at her, a bit insulted that she had said that. Jaci shook her head. 

"No, you're right, you wouldn't do that." She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. 

"What are you doing?" Severus whispered, looking down at her. 

"I'm trusting you, I've never trusted anyone like this Severus, I hope that my instinct is right."  With that they fell back onto the bed. 

Jaci awoke slowly and happily. She took in the feeling of Severus' arm draped around her stomach and his slow, even breathing behind her. She grinned and turned her head to look out of the window and was shocked to see rain clouds and gusting wind. She was used to seeing bright sunshine and no wind at all. She shivered as the wind blew hard against the window. 

Severus awoke with Jaci shivering and he didn't understand why. He wrapped his arm around her tighter and brought her closer. 

"What's wrong?" he mumbled into her ear sleepily. She was still shivering. 

"It's windy and it's gonna rain," Jaci whispered back. Severus chuckled. He kissed her shoulder. 

"Let it rain, we can spend a lazy day inside," he muttered. Jaci smiled, she hadn't thought of that. She snuggled closer to him and drifted back to sleep. 

Jaci shrieked as the thunder rumbled loudly. Severus awoke and quickly took her into his arms once more. She was shivering again.  "What's wrong?" 

"I'm sorry I woke you." 

Severus smiled.  "It's all right, now tell me what's wrong?"

"It's thundering loudly," Jaci muttered. Severus smiled.

"Don't worry," he whispered, "it'll pass." Jaci nodded. He brought her closer and lifted his head to look at the clock. It was around nine in the morning. He sighed. "You know, we should get up." 

"I know." 

Jaci and Severus came down for brunch at around 11, both showered and dressed, they began to make fruit salad. Severus looked up as it thundered so loudly it sounded like a sonic boom and suddenly Jaci was pressed against his body. She was shivering. Severus looked down at her.  

"What's wrong?" he asked her and was shocked to see that she was crying. 

"There's a storm," she said simply. Severus nodded. 

"Yes and?" 

"He gets mad in storms," she whispered and then buried her head into his shoulder. 

"Who? Who gets mad during storms?" 

"He does." With that Jaci began sobbing. All Severus could do was hold onto her and try to calm her down.  He wanted to know who Jaci was talking about, but she was sobbing too hard to speak. When she had finished he stepped back a bit and looked into her eyes. 

"Who gets mad Jaci?" he asked seriously. Jaci looked up at him, her cheeks were still wet and her eyes were red, her tousled hair made her look even sadder. 

"My father," she muttered. With that she turned away and began to cut mango into pieces. 

"Why?" 

"Drop it Severus." 

"No, you're going to tell me why. You're father is the whole reason why you're crying and…" at that second it thundered louder than it had before, Jaci shrieked, dropped the knife and ran into Severus' arms again, bawling once more. 


	6. A Tan And Rides

Hey you guys! I'm sorry I haven't written in this one for so bloody long, I had practices and stuff, so I hope you enjoy the rest, I have about thirty MORE chapters that I'll be posting soon, it gets so confusing, the story I mean, if you don't like how it turned out, I can some what agree with you, but in some places I like how it worked out. Tell me what you think, oh and this one's going out to Ari, wohoo! Go Ari!!!!!!!!!!

Chapter 05: A Tan and rides 

Jaci looked up as Severus walked into the living room, he had finished the fruit salad and then sat her on the couch as he served both of them. He sat next to her and passed her a bowl. Jaci smiled.

"Thank you," she whispered. Severus nodded. They ate in silence and then washed the dishes. Severus looked out of the window and smiled, the clouds were being blown away and the sun was shinning through. Apparently Jaci noticed as well and grinned as she looked over at him. He smiled, but when Jaci turned away he frowned.

He was upset; he wanted to know what it was that Jaci's father would do to her when it stormed. It had to be something Jake did to her, why else would she be so afraid of the storms?

"Hey Severus," Jaci's voice cut through his thoughts. He turned to look at her.

"Yes?"

"Let's go outside and swim or something." Severus smiled.

"All right."

Jaci shivered, the water was way too cold to swim in, but she was shocked as she saw Severus jump right in. He surfaced and looked at her curiously.

"Aren't you cold?" Jaci asked him. He laughed.

"It's not cold, it's nice and cool." Jaci gaped at him.

"That water's freezing cold!" he laughed. He swam up to where she was standing.

"No it's not here, touch my hand." He extended his hand. Jaci took it and screamed as he pulled down into the water.

She surfaced sputtering and shivering. She could hear Severus laughing she growled. Oh he was going to get it now. She quickly dove back under the water and swam up to him, punching him in the stomach.

Severus' laughing stopped and he doubled over, Jaci resurfaced, grinning. He glared up at her.

"That's not fair I can't hit you back." He mumbled. Jaci laughed. She swam up to him slowly.

"Yeah you could, if you wanted," she purred. He glared at her and she laughed again. Then she shivered. "I'm getting out and tanning." She began to move out to the stairs of the pool. "Want to join me?" Severus looked at her and shrugged.

"I guess." He followed her and lay down on his back on a pool chair like she had. The sun was heating up his cool skin, he sighed. It felt good to lie in the sun, soon he dozed off to sleep. Jaci looked up at Severus and smiled, he had fallen asleep, good. Now he would get some sun, he was so pale! She sighed and closed her eyes as well.

Severus groaned, he felt smooth cream on his back and strong hands massaging his back. He sighed and opened his eyes. It was Jaci, she was putting more sun block on his back. He smiled at her and sat up.

"You should turn on your back now Severus, you're super dark on your back," Jaci whispered. Severus, who was still a bit asleep only nodded and turned to lie on his back and went back to sleep with Jaci massaging more sun block into his shoulders.

"Severus," Jaci shook him slightly, "Severus."

"Hmm?"

"Come on get up, I've made lupper."

"Lupper?"

"Yes, lunch and supper." Severus laughed and opened his eyes to look at her and was shocked to see that the sun had gone down already. She was standing over him, hair falling into his face. He smiled and ran his hand through her hair.

"Ok, let's go."

Jaci was dying to get Severus to go and look in a mirror because he would not recognize himself at all! Most people take a while to tan, but he caught the sun incredibly fast! She had started laughing herself when she saw him.

Severus sat down at the table and ate as Jaci rushed around doing other things, she had eaten earlier. When he was finished they both washed dishes and moved to the living room where Jaci put a video on and she watched it. Severus sighed and spread out on the couch while Jaci got a chair. They watched the movie for a while, but Severus and Jaci felt their eyelids start to droop at around 1 in the morning so they shut off the TV and headed up to Severus' room.

Jaci felt back onto the bed and closed her eyes, snuggling into the blankets. Severus smiled and began to walk away from the bed.

"Where are you going?" he heard Jaci mumble.

"To the bathroom."

"Oh, ok." Severus walked into the restroom and turned on the light, he walked over to the toilet and just as he was about to lift the seat caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He stood there for the longest time just staring back at himself, not believing what he was seeing.

He was a darker color! Not as bronze as Jaci, but a nice color. He stared at himself. He did a full circle, trying to turn his head to see his back, yup, he was a totally different color. He sighed and walked back to the bedroom, boy was he going to shock Hogwarts.

At around 12 the next morning, Severus woke up to the sound of the doorbell ringing. He groaned and put the pillow over his head, but he heard Jaci go and answer the door, she yelled. He shot up from the bed and took off downstairs.

"Oh, so _this_ is why you haven't gone to my house," Severus heard a male's voice say as he stopped in the living room. He saw a man, a bit older than Jaci, maybe a few years, black curly hair, brown eyes, standing there with Jaci in a headlock. Just then Jaci kicked his shin and he went down, cursing. Jaci shot up and smiled.

"Oh course cuz," she said, grinning. She walked over to Severus and ran her hand through his hair, smoothing it down. The man stood up, wincing and drew Jaci back into his arms, hugging her tightly.

"Ok, just came to check up on you, you dad owled me last night, saying that you were alone with this dude, just had to make sure that it was all right." The man looked up at Severus, glaring at him. "And it is all right, right?" The man looked down at Jaci who rolled her eyes.

"Of course Freddie, we're fine." Freddie raised his left eyebrow and Jaci did the same, they laughed and Freddie hugged her again.

"All right then, I'll see you later cuz." With that Freddie walked out of the house. Jaci locked the door and turned to look at Severus, smiling.

"To answer your first question, he's not really my cousin, he's my friend Mandy's brother, but we've been so close that I call him my cousin."

"Ok." Severus thought that was a bit strange, but didn't want to say any thing that might upset Jaci.

"So what do you want to do today?" she asked Severus, walking over and smoothing his hair down more. He shrugged. "Good, just what I wanted to hear. Go get dressed, put some shorts on and a light t-shirt, preferably a white one, oh wait here." In her hands appeared a white muscle shirt, Severus looked at her shocked.

"How did you do that? You didn't have a wand!"

"Oh, yeah, I took wandless magic training, it's okay, but I didn't take the full course so I only know how to do certain things." Jaci shrugged, she handed him the shirt. "Here, go, shower change, hurry!" Severus nodded and ran up the stairs to shower and change.

When he came back down, Jaci was wearing the top to her bathing suit and shorts. She was carrying a backpack that had a few things in it and her sunglasses. He looked at her curiously.

"Where are we going?" he asked her. Jaci smiled. She held out her hand and he took it.

"We're going to apperate somewhere just focus on me, ok?" Severus nodded. Soon they were standing in a room, Severus looked at her confused and Jaci grinned. They stepped out of the room and they greeted by the scorching heat, the smell of sun block, sweat, food, and water. Severus saw so many people, most of the burned, wearing muscle shirts like his. He looked at Jaci confused. She grinned.

"It's called an amusement park."


	7. Ride 'em Cowboy

Chapter 06: Ride 'em cowboy 

"Jaci, I need to take a break," Severus panted out. Jaci looked up at him and smiled. They had been at Fiesta Texas for about three hours and she had taken him on ride after ride after ride.

"Ok, come on you sit here and I'll go get something to drink okay?" he nodded. He sat down, resting his legs, they were sore and he felt a bruise forming on his shoulder. He sighed, he was hurting but he had had so much fun! Those _rides_ as Jaci called them were awesome! They were so fun and exciting he had even joined Jaci in whooping in joy on the last ride. He smiled at her as she sat down in front of him, slurping on some strange looking drink.

"What is that?" he asked. Jaci grinned.

"An Icee, here try some," she gave him some and he drank it cautiously. His eyes opened wide.

"This is delicious." Jaci grinned.

"I know. Come on, let's go and get good seats for the firework show, then we can go back to my house okay?" Severus nodded. They walked slowly and lazily down to where Jaci lead them. They stretched out on the grass and Severus was amazed as the show started.

Jaci snuggled closer to him that night on the bed while he stayed up, thinking. What was he going to do? He was sleeping with one of Voldemort's trusted Death Eater's daughter! He sighed deeply and Jaci stirred a bit. He smiled and ran his hand down her hair. He was going to have to leave her as soon as her father came back. Which was in about two more days.

Jaci knew he wasn't asleep, neither was she, but she didn't want him to know that. She could figure out what he was thinking about and it troubled her mind as well. She didn't know where this was going, but she was going to stay on for the ride. She smiled and snuggled closer to him.

Voldemort smiled, this was going perfectly, just as planned.

Jaci awoke and reached for Severus but was surprised to find that he wasn't there. She sat up and looked around the room, then the bathroom. She got up and walked down the stairs and found him in the kitchen, reading a letter, he crumbled it up and set it on fire. Jaci shook her head, how many times had she seen her father do that? The letter could be from only one person. She sighed loudly and it caused Severus to look up. He smiled at her and she smiled back, or tried to at least, but Severus didn't notice.

"What do you want to eat?" Severus asked. Jaci smiled.

"No, let's get dressed first, I have somewhere I want to take you."

"Another amusement park?" Jaci laughed.

"No, but you'll have to pack over night clothes 'cause I don't want to apperate there, the scenery is beautiful." Severus nodded and did as she instructed. "Oh and wear jeans and boots." Again he nodded and went up to pack and dress.

Jaci was waiting for him downstairs, she smiled as she saw he was wearing a muscle shirt again, but this one was blue, blue jeans, and cowboy boots that she had provided.

Severus looked at Jaci curiously; she was wearing the almost exact thing as he was. Blue jeans, boots, but she had a tank, a red one, and a black cowboy hat. She was carrying her duffle bag and he was carrying his.

"Where are we going?" he asked again. Jaci smiled.

"Rancho de Corazon."

"What?" Jaci laughed.

"You'll see, come on let's get going, it's a hour and a half drive and we'll pick up some mariachis."

"Some what?" Jaci sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Some tacos."

"Oh." They walked out and locked up the house, then headed for the car. Severus stayed quiet for a while trying to figure out where it was they were going. But about twenty minutes later he didn't care. He was watching the scenery, Jaci was right it was so beautiful. The sun hadn't risen above them so it was sending shadows everywhere, there were so many fields with people working them, horses, cows, other animals Severus hadn't seen so up close, only in pictures in his books.

An hour later, Jaci turned to a dirt road and they took it for a few minutes, then Jaci came up to a set of iron gates with the words "Rancho de Corazon" written in iron at the top. A man came running and opened the gate, greeting Jaci in Spanish. Jaci greeted him back.

"Y quien es este senor?" the man asked. Jaci smiled.

"Es amigo de mi papa." The man nodded and they drove in.

"What was that about?" Severus asked. Jaci grinned.

"Don't worry about it, welcome to Rancho de Corazon, 'ranch of the heart.'" Severus looked up and gasped. There was a mansion, about three stories high, it was made of red brick, to the far left of the house Severus saw stables, he turned in his seat and saw behind them there was a racing filed. To the right of the mansion was a garage that could hold up to twenty cars. Jaci parked there.

"Where are we?" Severus asked as they walked out, Jaci's hand in his.

"At the family ranch."

"Ranch?" Jaci grinned.

"Yes, come on, let's go and ride some horses and then we'll come back and they would have taken our luggage up to our room by then and we can have some lunch, okay?" Severus could only nod as he continued to take in the view.

Jaci led him to the stables and Severus was greeting with a not too welcoming smell. He wrinkled his nose a bit and Jaci noticed that, she smiled. She hadn't expected him to have ever been near horses in his life. She grinned, this was going to be fun.

"Buenos dias senora Cortez," one of the workers said, greeting her. Jaci grinned.

"Buenos dias Pablo, como esta El Diablo?" she asked hugging him tightly. He smiled.

"Muy bien, alle esta," he pointed to a stable and Jaci ran over, Severus following her, trying to figure out what was going on and being said. Jaci stepped into a little room, Severus stepped in then stepped back out.

Jaci was cooing to a massive animal, it was horse, he knew that, but he didn't think that they were this big up close and personal. Especially this one, it was evil looking, pure black except for these gray rings around its hoofs and a tip of gray on one ear, the eyes were a piercing black as well. Severus was shocked to see that Jaci was petting the thing and it was nuzzling back.

"What are you doing?" Severus asked her. Jaci turned to look at him.

"Petting the devil."

"What?!" Jaci laughed.

"The Devil, El Diablo, it's the name of my horse."

"This is your horse?"

"Yes of course, what did you expect?"

"A small horse, pure white, small, pretty, small." Jaci laughed.

"No way, El Diablo is the only horse for me, he's the best." Severus gaped at her. "Come on, we're going riding, I'll pick out a horse for you." Jaci walked over to one of the workers and told them to saddle up her horse for her. Then she walked down the stables.

"You can ride Mist." Severus walked over to where Jaci was standing and gasped. She was a beautiful horse, and he understood why she was named Mist. She was a misty gray color with intense silver like eyes, but she had white rings around her hoofs and Severus understood.

"She's…"

"Diablo's daughter, yup," Jaci grinned. "But unlike her father she's tame and calm, and gentle." She located another worker and had them saddle up Mist as well. Ten minutes later, Severus was standing outside of the stable with Jaci learning the basics of horse riding.

"Ok, so I just swing my leg over?" Severus asked. Jaci nodded. He took a deep breath. "Ok, I think I can do this." Jaci grinned. Surprisingly Severus got it in his first try, Jaci grinned.

"Okay, now just hold the reins like this and when you want her to go to the right you pull the reins left and vice-versa understand?"

"What if I want her to stop?" Jaci laughed.

"Well then you pull on both sides of the reins, but not hard okay? Be gentle she wont hurt you as long as you don't hurt her." With that Jaci turned and grinned as the workmen brought out El Diablo. Severus gaped as she saddled perfectly and began to lead her horse out, Mist followed. Severus quickly learned two things about horseback riding.

Number one, it was quite pleasant and it was nice to see the scenery from point of view. Number two; horseback riding made you sore as heck. At first he didn't even feel anything, not after the first half hour, but once Jaci had them hiking through a river he felt it as the horse was walking through the cool water and how it bounced up and down through the path.


	8. Jake?

Chapter 07: Jake? 

Two hours later Jaci turned and smiled. They had dismounted about five minutes ago and Severus was feeling what it was like for cowboys. He limped around for a few seconds but when he caught her looking and laughing he quickly straighten up and walked normally but Jaci could see him wincing and it made her laugh even more.

She could feel him glaring at her and she quickly turned and began leading both horses back to their stables. She brushed down Diablo and let the other men handle Mist. When she was finished she found Severus sitting on the floor, legs brought up, head resting on his knees and gazing at her. She smiled and joined him.

"What do you want to do now?" she asked him, resting her head on his shoulder. He sighed deeply.

"You want the truth?" Jaci smiled.

"Yes."

"Sleep." Jaci burst out laughing and kissed him gently. She stood up.

"Come on, let's go eat something I'm starving." Severus smiled and followed her up to the house and into the dining area where there was chicken with rice and some fruits waiting for them on the table.

"This looks good." Jaci smiled.

"Yes, they cook wonderful here and they treat me so well, it's really cool." She sat down and they served themselves some food. When they were finished, they sat back, enjoying each other's company and talking.

"So at Hogwarts, where exactly is it?" Jaci asked him. Severus sighed.

"I can't tell you that." Jaci raised her eyebrow.

"Oh really?" Severus nodded. She scooted closer to him.

"Why not?"

"Because no one's supposed to know."

"Oh come on _Severus,"_ she whispered into his ear slowly. He gulped.

"I-I can't."

"Who am I gonna tell?" she began to run her hand through his hair gently and stroking his face softly. He gulped.

"You're not gonna stop until I tell you huh?" Severus asked. Jaci laughed.

"Nope I'm not _gonna_ stop Severus." He sighed, then smiled.

"I might enjoy you trying to get it out of me."

"Oh really?"

"Yup." Jaci kissed him softly then took his hand.

"Come on, I'll show you the bedroom."

Several hours later, Jaci walked downstairs as Severus slept for a while, the horse back riding had really worn him out. She smiled, she had gotten him to tell her where Hogwarts was, she grinned and shook her head. She walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge. She took out a carton of orange juice and drank from it.

"That's unsanitary you know?" she jumped as she heard someone behind her, spilling a bit of orange juice on herself. She turned around, wide-eyed. She tried to tell herself it wasn't him, but it was.

Jake Cortez stood there, standing in his usual business suit, white slacks, black shirt, and white blazer. He had his usual briefcase and his black hair, which she had inherited, was combed neatly back.

"Da-dad?" Jaci stuttered. He smiled. He looked down at her, well Severus' shirt that she had thrown on.

"Hello to you too honey, I see you've been busy," Jake smiled. They heard the sound of feet making their way down the stairs.

"Jaci? Where'd you go?" Severus came down, wearing boxers and rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"Ah and you must be Mr. Snape," Jake said, his smile turning into a grin. Severus opened his eyes wide.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Mr. Cortez." Jake answered. Severus' eyes widened. His hand quickly ran through his hair, a sign Jaci learned that showed he was either shocked, nervous, or just didn't have anything else to do.

"Uh, hello Mr. Cortez," Severus walked over to him, hand extended. Jake laughed. He shook his hand then set his briefcase down on the table.

"Well Mr. Snape, shall we finish out business right now so you may be able to leave in the morning, or at your convince, I'll be right here waiting if you would like to go back upstairs with my daughter and kick it in the bed for a while." Jake smiled evilly. Severus blushed a deep red.

"No, I'll, I'll just go and get another shirt on, I'll be right back." Severus ran back upstairs to change. Jake looked at Jaci and grinned.

"Guess what I heard darling," Jake said.

"What daddy?" Jaci said in a little voice, she didn't like the tone he had, it was too calm, too nice. His grin grew until it didn't look like a grin at all; it looked like he was just baring his teeth.

"It's gonna rain, soon." Jaci whimpered. Jake laughed. He looked at her. "Go to my room, when this man leaves we're having a discussion." Jaci's eyes went wide with fear, but she nodded and ran off.

When Severus came down, he wasn't that shocked to see that Jaci wasn't there, but he didn't expect leaving without saying a word to her. When he and Jake finished off the deal and the paperwork was signed, Jake ordered the hands to pack Severus' things, he invited Severus to have a small midnight snack, which consisted of fruit, and then sent Severus on his way.

As Severus was walking out of the house and into the yard to apperate to an airport that Jake had told him Voldemort wanted him to use, but Severus turned to look at the house one last time. He saw a shadow in the window, then it was gone. He sighed and disapperated, just as the thunder rolled, the lighting flashed, and a girl cried in the night.


	9. Back At Hogwarts

Chapter 08: Back at Hogwarts 

Severus sighed he was on the airplane home, thank God. He had forgotten about Jaci, for now, he had been gone from Texas for about a week now, he had to close other deals Voldemort wanted in other states. He was also too busy thinking about when he was going to talk to Voldemort about the deals he had closed and how classes were starting tomorrow and he had to get a few things ready. He sat back, rubbing his temple with both index fingers.

They landed soon and as he stepped out he gasped. It was freezing cold! He wrapped his coat tighter around him, cursing damn America for being so hot, then he thought of Jaci, and he stopped in his tracks, Jaci. Whatever happened to her? He growled and shook his head. He should have gone back, he should have gone back and seen her. He had the right mind to go back right now and see her, but a stinging pain in his left arm stopped him, Voldemort was calling. He quickly ran to the nearest bathroom, ran into a stall and disapperated.

Albus Dumbledore looked up and smiled as his friend walked into his office, he hadn't looked the least bit shocked at Severus' tan. He raised his hand, offering a chair, which Severus nearly collapsed in.

"Traveling has done you some good Severus," Dumbledore said, grinning. Severus tried his hardest not to glare at him, but it was impossible. Dumbledore laughed. "Well my friend, how are you feeling and how did you do?" Dumbledore's face turned serious as Severus began explaining Voldemort's plans and what he was expected of doing in the next four weeks. Dumbledore sighed when Severus was finished.

"All right Severus, you may go, we'll discuss this later." Severus nodded, but he didn't get up to go, not yet. He sat there for a few minutes, he spaced out. "Severus?"

Snape's head shot up, his confused black eyes met with Albus' concerned blue ones. The old man spoke without words and Severus knew. He sighed. He stood.

"Nothing Headmaster, I will see you at dinner," Severus' hand was on the doorknob when he heard Dumbledore speak.

"You know, you look healthier with your skin darker," Dumbledore snickered. Severus turned and glared at him. Dumbledore shrugged his shoulders, smiling. Severus walked out, hearing the old man shake with laughter.

Severus stalked into the Great Hall for dinner that evening, he hadn't seen anyone all day, he hadn't wanted to, he would get too annoyed, but right now he longed to see other faces. He walked in and heard several people muffle a gasp. He growled. So he had gotten a tan! What was so bloody surprising about it? He growled. _He Severus Snape_, had gotten a tan. He sighed, Jaci, he was always thinking about Jaci now, everything he looked at reminded him of her.

McGonagall looked at Professor Dumbledore with concern in her eyes. She was shocked when she saw Snape, but the look in his eyes, the way that he had stopped glaring at people, he wasn't talking at all, normally he spoke with most of the teachers, he wouldn't say a word. When he finished eating he walked quietly and slowly out of the Great Hall.

"What's going on Albus?" she asked him. Dumbledore sighed.

"I don't know Minerva, but the problem should show itself soon."

Severus looked up as he heard many footsteps entering the castle, he sighed. He wasn't going to the feast tonight, he couldn't. He had to finish the lesson plans he was supposed to have given Dumbledore about a month ago, but he was out, so he had to do them now, he had to get ingredients, stock up his lab, make sure he had enough of everything for at least half of the year. He growled as his stomach groaned from the lack of food. He shook his head, no. He would have something here and get back to work, but first.

He put the finishing touches on the owl he was sending to Jaci; he was apologizing for leaving so quickly, for not checking up on her. When he was done, he sent off his black owl and then went to the kitchens and got the elves to give him some food. He went back to his quarters and finished getting ready.

Severus growled, he overslept! How in the world had he done that? He was the kind that could look at the time and mentally tell himself when he was going to wake up, and it always worked, until today. Classes had begun five minutes again and he growled when he looked at his schedules and seen that they had switched his classes, he was going to have the 6th year Gryffindors and Slytherins that day.

Just what he needed, the annoying brat, Harry Potter and his two followers Weasley and Granger. He growled as he walked down the empty corridors to the dungeons. He threw open the door and was greeted with gasps of surprise. He mentally rolled his eyes.

"You're 6th years, you know what to do, and today we will be doing a most advanced potion…" Severus glared at a student as he saw he was snickering. "What Mr. Weasley is so humorous?"

"N…nothing Professor Snape," Ron managed to say, trying not to laugh anymore, but he broke down, and then half the class joined him. Snape growled. He slammed his hand down on the desk, causing everyone to stop.

"Mr. Weasley detention for disrupting the class, now," he pointed to the cupboard and then the board. The cupboard doors burst open, the supplies aligned there neatly, and then neat writing appeared on the board. "Begin."

Harry couldn't believe was he was seeing! First of all Snape was late, which was a miracle, then when Snape walked out of the dark shadows of the dungeons, he ends up having a tan! He couldn't help himself for laughing and he could tell half the class couldn't either. He took a deep breath and walked over to the cupboard to go and get the ingredients needed.

Severus sighed as he sat down at his desk, the class was working quietly and in a few moments he would go and check on their potions, right now he had to think. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and then looked out of the window, just as his owl flew in. It dropped off the letter in his lap and Severus gave it a piece of bread. The owl ate it hurriedly and flew out again.

Severus looked down at his letter, shocked. It had been returned unopened, he turned it around a few times in his hands, there was no writing, no reason as to why it wasn't opened. His bird wasn't forgetful, or lazy, he did what it was told. And if it was told to bring the letter back, then it did it was it was told. Severus tried hard not to sigh. Jaci had a right to not open his letter, after him leaving her the way he did.

Harry sneaked a glance at Professor Snape, ever since his owl had flown in, it seemed like Snape had completely lost his composure. He was slouching in his seat, eyes down, head in his hands, staring at the letter on the desk. Just then Snape sighed and stood, making Harry look back down at his potion, hoping that the Professor hadn't seen him looking at him.

Severus began to walk around, checking the potions, but his mind really wasn't into it and the class could tell. He hadn't made a single comment about Harry, or Neville for that matter, whose potion was smoking and turning red instead of green. Snape just walked around for a few minutes, then walked back to the head of the classroom. Just as he was about to open his mouth, the door to the classroom burst open.


	10. Snape?

Chapter 09: Snape? 

No one really saw what it was, but they heard the loud _SMACK_ as whatever it was stood next to Snape. Then the class saw a woman, a very beautiful woman, standing there in jeans and a black long sleeved, button down shirt, a cowboy hat, and boots. She was glaring at Snape, with her hands on her hips. Snape looked positively shocked to see her and there was a red hand mark on his cheek where she had obviously slapped him.

"We spend a beautiful week together and you don't even owl me?" the girl said, she looked like she was about to cry, but was holding it back. She also had a deep accent, it sounded Western, American perhaps.

"Jaci…I…I'm sorry?" Snape managed to say.

"For what? For breaking my heart in two or for giving me the greatest pleasure I've even known?" 'Jaci' said. The class looked wide-eyed back at Snape.

"For both?" Snape choked. The class looked back at the 'Jaci'.

"Well forget it, I've spent too many nights crying over you." With that the girl began to walk out of the classroom.

"No, Jaci wait," Severus grabbed her arm and turned her around, there was fire in her eyes.

"What do you want?"

"We need to talk." With that he roughly escorted her out of the dungeons and shut the door, the class immediately got up to go and stand by the door to listen to what they were saying.

"Severus Snape you let go of me right now!" Jaci said, kicking her legs up, twisting and squirming to get him to let go of her. Severus only held on tighter. He brought up against a wall and pinned her so she wouldn't move and couldn't kick him.

"We need to talk Jaci." He said. Jaci glared at him.

"I have nothing more to say to you Snape." Severus winced.

"Well then you listen I talk." He sighed and let her go. "There happy?" she glared at him, but nodded. "Now will you listen?" she nodded again. "Good, but first I think I'll have to dismiss my class, want to come?" again she nodded.

Harry scrambled back to his desk and everyone made it just in time as Professor Snape opened the door, walking in, his face in his usual sneer, he walked to the head of the classroom and crossed his arms, the woman walked over to his desk and plopped herself into his chair, she looked on his desk and looked at a letter.

Harry tried not to smile as she picked it up and began to read it, she looked up at Snape a bit astonished and Harry figured that the letter was to her and she hadn't opened it. Just then Snape cleared his throat, sending Harry's glance up to him.

"You should be finished with the potion by now," Snape said, glaring at Harry, he had seen him looking at Jaci. Harry merely smiled up at him. "You are dismissed." Just then Harry knocked one of his bottles down on the ground and as the class filed out, he began picking it up. Snape growled, he knew that that was an old trick of Potter's. He turned to look at Jaci and saw she was reading the letter and crying. He quickly walked over to her.

"S…Severus, you sent th…this to me?" Jaci cried, holding up the letter. Severus nodded. "Wh…when?"

"Last night," Severus whispered. Jaci stood up and looked at him. She shook her head.

"But I didn't get it."

Severus nodded. "I know, my owl returned it to me unopened." Jaci sighed and shook her head.

"It was father probably." Just then they heard shuffling and they turned their heads. Severus growled.

"Potter!" Severus spat bitterly, Jaci winced slightly, she wasn't used to his voice in that tone. "_What_ are you doing?" Snape growled. Just then Jaci cocked her head to one side. The boy stood up, looking at them, he showed them a rag.

"Cleaning up my swamp water sir," the boy replied. "I…" but he stopped talking as Jaci walked up to him and brushed his hair to one side, reveling the scar. She smiled.

"Cool, I figured you were Harry, I'm Jaci, Jaci Cortez," with that Jaci held out her hand for Harry to shake. Harry looked at her stunned, so did Snape. "Come on, don't leave me hanging, I don't bite." Harry smiled and shook her hand.

"I'm Harry Potter," Harry said. Jaci smiled.

"I know, oh, you can get back to cleaning up your swamp water now." Jaci grinned broadly and Harry was flashed with white, straight teeth. He smiled slowly back and went to picking up his water. Jaci turned to face Severus again. She grinned at him and he couldn't help but smile.

Underneath the desk, Harry watched the scene in amazement, Snape was smiling! Not his usual bear of teeth, not his strained fake smile, but a true genuine smile! It was amazing, this was the side of Snape that no one had ever seen before and here he was witnessing it!

"How did you get here?" Severus asked her. Jaci grinned.

"I flew over to London, found the Leaky Cauldron and Apperated to Hogsmead." Severus shook his head.

"Only you." He mumbled. Jaci laughed. Harry enjoyed it, it was rich and full.

"Severus can I stay with you for a while?" Jaci whispered. Severus' eyes went wide. He walked Jaci to one side of the room as Harry collected his bags and began to walk out.

"What's wrong?" Harry heard Snape mumble.

"It's my father and…Him." Harry cleared the door, shocked, Him, could she mean Voldemort? Harry shook his head, no of course not. He began running to the Common Room to tell Ron and Hermione what had happened when he crashed into someone.

"Hey! Watch it!" a girl said. Harry stepped back, and picked up the book he had made her drop.

"Sorry," he looked up and held his breath. The girl standing in front of him was rather breath taking. He quickly looked at her robe and saw she was in Slytherin! She glared at him.

"It's okay, I guess, just watch where you're going next time okay?" she asked. Harry nodded, still holding his breath. With that the girl walked away.

Jaci turned away from Severus' pissed off face. She had just finished telling him why she had left her home, why she was here instead of America and he was pissed. She closed her eyes and he slammed his fist into the wall, again and again, until his knuckles were bloody and bruised. She quickly walked over to him, and drew him into her arms. He held onto her as she began to sob.

"Don't cry," he whispered into her ear. She shuddered and only held on to him tighter and cried harder. He sighed and kissed the top of her head softly and waited until her sobs stopped.

Dumbledore knocked softly on the door of one of his trusted friends, but when he didn't answer, Albus merely walked in. He stood at the doorway for a few minutes, smiling, there was his trusted friend…in the arms of a woman. They hadn't noticed him, Severus was holding on to her and she was crying. Dumbledore waited patiently as he heard the woman's sobbing cease and Severus mumble something comforting in her ear and he cleared his throat softly.

Both Severus and the woman turned and jumped apart. Dumbledore smiled and walked completely into the room and shut the door. Severus led the woman to a seat and handed her a handkerchief and she began to dry her tears.

"Umm, Headmaster, how, how nice to see you, how are you?" Severus said. Dumbledore smiled.

"Fine Severus, and you?"

"Uh, just, just fine." Just then Jaci stood and walked to be next to Severus, he immediately put his arm around her waist, and then blushed when he had realized what it was he had done, but he didn't remove it. "Headmaster, this is, um, Miss Jacqueline Cortez from Laredo, Texas in America." Dumbledore smiled. He walked over to the woman and shook her hand. Jaci smiled up at him.

"Hello Miss Cortez, welcome to Hogwarts." Dumbledore looked up at Severus, then frowned. "Severus, your knuckles." Dumbledore pointed to the blood falling off Severus' hand and onto the floor. Severus quickly hid his hand.

"It's nothing Headmaster, please have a seat." Severus quickly waved for Dumbledore to take his desk seat, but he refused as he always did and sat down where Jaci had sat, she followed his lead and sat down next to him.

Jaci tried not to stare at the man sitting next to her who was making small talk with Severus. She was sitting next to the Albus Dumbledore! This was a once in a lifetime experience for someone who had come from the rubble of the United States.

"What about you Miss Cortez?" Dumbledore suddenly asked. Jaci jumped slightly. She blushed and Dumbledore smiled.

"I'm sorry, what was the question?" Jaci asked.

"Which Muggle candy do you prefer?" Dumbledore asked. Jaci tried not to let her mouth hang open. Dumbledore was asking her about Muggle candy? Wow. Jaci then smiled.

"Well I like anything with chocolate like Three Musketeers or Snickers. What about you Mr. Dumbledore?"

"Oh please, call me Albus. I prefer lemon drops." He smiled widely, then he looked at the clock on Severus' wall. "Oh my, it's time for dinner. Miss Cortez will you be joining us?" Jaci smiled.

"Oh Headmaster, I was hoping that Miss Cortez could stay with…with me for a while." Severus tried not to avoid Dumbledore's eyes, but it was hard, Dumbledore was grinning like he'd just won the mother load of lemon drops.

"Of course, we'll be glad to have you as long as you like Miss Cortez." Dumbledore smiled at Jaci and she grinned.

"Thank you…Albus."

"May I escort both of you to dinner?" Severus asked. Dumbledore smiled.

"You two go ahead, I'll be there in a few moments, I have something I need to check." With the he walked out of the room, leaving Severus staring at Jaci. She laughed and Severus smiled.

"What's so funny?" he asked, coming up behind her and nuzzling her neck slowly.

"The look on your face Severus." Jaci touched the hand around her waist and gasped. "Oh Severus, you're still bleeding." Severus placed his hand behind his back quickly.

"It's nothing." Jaci shook her head.

"At least let me treat it for you." Severus sighed. He nodded and held out his hand. Jaci placed some ointment and then wrapped the knuckles up. When she was finished, he held out his arm and they walked out to the Great Hall.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked up, as did everyone else, as Snape walked in with the woman named Jaci. They could hear muttering and whispering as people who didn't have the class ask who she was, and the people who _did_ have the class tell them the story.

It looked like Snape was ignoring everyone but Jaci, she had her arm looped through his, leaning against him, talking to him in whispers and he was trying to keep a stern face, but with her telling him little jokes, it was very difficult.

As they sat down at the teacher's table, Severus saw that there was an extra seat for Jaci on his left. He looked over at Dumbledore who smiled at him. Severus shook his head and gave a little grin, which disappeared as soon as it had appeared. He led Jaci to her seat, pushed it in for her, then he walked to his seat. Everyone was still whispering as the food appeared and everyone began to eat. Everyone would occasionally glance up at Snape and the woman.

"Harry, I just can't picture it mate, I'm sorry," Ron said to Harry as they ate. Harry sighed.

"I know, but it was, I'm telling you, he was grinning his head off. He was holding her like, like a…a…" Harry struggled to find the word.

"A girlfriend?" Hermione put in.

"Yes, no, like, well, like he cared for her deeply," Harry finished. Ron shook his head and looked up at the teacher's table.

"No mate, I still can't imagine it," Ron said, then he moved to focus on his piece of pie. Harry sighed and shook his head. He looked up at the Slytherin table and held his breath once more. There was that girl again! She was sitting next to Draco Malfoy, and then there was another girl on Draco's left. Draco looked up at that exact moment and smiled smugly at Harry. Harry glared and looked down.

Great! Now Malfoy was going to think that Harry was jealous because he was surrounded by girls. Who cared? Malfoy was a jerk, all talk no action. Harry sighed, but that girl! He had to know who she was! He shook his head, wait, she's a Slytherin, no, better not.

Jaci looked up from her plate of delicious food and cocked her head to one side. She watched the students talk amongst their own houses. She shook her head, most of them weren't talking to other houses. Jaci rolled her eyes, she wished people wouldn't judge other people just because they were different.

She spotted Harry quickly, he was sitting with a pretty girl with brown hair kept back in a simple braid and a red headed boy. He was talking to them and occasionally the redhead would looked up at Snape, a look of astonishment on his face. Jaci smiled one of the times he looked up and the redhead blushed and looked down. Jaci sighed, she had finished eating, but Severus was talking with Dumbledore again.

She let her mind wander and saw that more and more people were staring at her because they had finished eating. Jaci sighed and rolled her eyes once more, she hated too much attention. The only time she liked being center of attention was when she was hurt, or was excited about something and wanted everyone to know about it.

When it looked like everyone was finished eating, Dumbledore stood and a hush quickly fell. Everyone was silent, looking up at him, waiting for him to speak. Dumbledore smiled and so did everyone, well mostly everyone, a few boys sitting at the table with Snake patches did not.

"I would like to welcome Miss Jacqueline Cortez from Laredo, Texas, in the United States to Hogwarts. She is a good friend of Professor Snape's and will be treated with the same respect any of you would give to any of your teachers. I'm sure she would love to answer any questions you have on where she lives and would enjoy helping you out in anyway. Please, let us show her our hospitality." Dumbledore began to clap his hands, and so did everyone else, even Severus. Jaci blushed and smiled.

"Thank you," she said. Everyone smiled up at her, including the boys at the Snake table.

"Now that you have been watered and fed, off with you all, it is time to sleep." Dumbledore called out. Everyone laughed. Some students began to file out of the hall, others lagged behind, taking that last bit of pie or talking.

Jaci saw Harry and stood from her seat, she walked down slowly to where he and his two friends were sitting. She smiled at Harry, and his other two friends stayed quiet.

"Hello Harry," Jaci said, grinning.

"Uh, hello Miss Cortez," Harry said. Jaci wrinkled her nose.

"Please, call me Jaci, Miss Cortez makes me sound old," she and Harry laughed. Just then Harry remembered his friends.

"Oh, this is Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger," Harry said, making proper introductions. Jaci smiled. She shook Ron's hand, who turned red at the touch and then hugged Hermione, shocking the girl.

"Oh, sorry," Jaci said sheepishly. "Us Hispanics always greet or meet people like that. Well the woman do at least, to other woman." Jaci grinned and they all smiled.

"Hispanic?" Hermione asked after a second. "I thought you were from America." Jaci grinned.

"I am, but my bloodline descends down to Spaniards, so I'm Hispanic, mainly, my mother was American, my father was Mexican, so I'm a bit of both." Ron smiled. He liked this woman, she spoke to them like they were equals, not just students. Just then a shadow fell over them and Ron gulped.

Severus was standing behind Jaci, he put a hand on her shoulder and she looked up, she smiled as she saw who it was. She placed her hand on his and rubbed at the bandage that she had placed.

"Jaci, it's time to go," Severus said, glaring at Potter, Granger, and Weasley, daring them to say anything about what they were seeing, but they knew better. Jaci sighed.

"Ok, I'll see you guys tomorrow then, good night." She stood and waved back to them with her free hand, she was going to loop her other arm with Severus' but she decided to take his hand instead. Severus looked down at her as she entwined her fingers with his. This was going to look great to the entire staff, not to mention the students! He wanted to pull away, but it was Jaci who was holding his hand! Jaci who he'd missed and hadn't seen in so long. He sighed and just continued walking down the hall with his hand in hers.

McGonagall looked plainly shocked as she watched Snape and Miss Cortez walk away. Dumbledore chuckled softly.

"Minerva, flies will fly into your mouth with it hanging like that," Dumbledore whispered to her and McGonagall quickly shut her mouth, but continued to look amazed. She turned to look at Dumbledore who just smiled softly. He stood and began to make his way out of the Great Hall. All the students looked up to him as if he were to answer their questions on Snape and the woman all though no one spoke. Dumbledore merely laughed his way out.

Severus sighed as he and Jaci finally made it to his quarters, all the portraits had been gasping and pointing at him, not to mention looking at him weird. He quickly said the password to the portrait of a man brewing a potion, the portrait swung forward and he and Jaci stepped into his lounge area. Severus didn't allow Jaci to get a glimpse of the lounge area, he took her straight to the kitchen, sat her down at the table and got themselves two glasses and some butterbeer.

"Now, you are going to tell me everything that's happened since I left," Severus said after Jaci had drunken more than half of her glass of butterbeer. Jaci sighed and placed the glass down.

"Nothing much has happened Severus, just…just what I told you." Jaci looked away with tears in her eyes and Severus cursed himself. How could he have brought that up for her again, as painful as it was for her to tell, without him having to remind her? Severus stood quickly and wrapped his arm around her.

"I'm sorry, that was a stupid question to ask. I just wanted to know if you were still doing okay and who and what was going on in your life." Jaci looked up at him curiously.

"What do you mean by who?" Jaci asked. Severus looked away.

"I just wanted to know if you had found anyone else, you know cause I wasn't there." Jaci shook her head.

"How could you even think that Severus?" She sighed and stood up, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him gently. Then she placed her head on his chest, listening to the sound of his heart beating.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for just leaving you, I should have stayed I should have…" Jaci cut him off with another kiss.


	11. A Guest In Hogwarts

Chapter 10: A guest in Hogwarts 

Severus lay on his bed, Jaci snuggled close to him. He sighed deeply and draped an arm over her, making her look up at him. She smiled and lightly kissed him.

"Severus?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Why do you act so cruel and sneer all the time here?" Jaci whispered. Severus looked down at her rather shocked.

"What do you mean?" Jaci sat up and looked at him.

"Severus, sure when I met you, you were a jerk, a real pain in the ass, but here you act like an asshole. You act like you hate these children with a burning passion, especially Harry Potter, why?" Severus just looked at her, he didn't know what to tell her. Finally he sighed and stood, he walked out of the room, leaving Jaci there, lost and confused.

Jaci awoke with Severus by her side, she didn't know what time she had gone to sleep, or what time Severus had come back from where ever he had gone to. Jaci sighed and got up, shaking her head. She didn't understand anymore, back in America she knew who he was, what he did, here she didn't, and she didn't want to know who he was anymore.

Severus awoke with a start, he had heard something in his living room, quickly he got up, grabbed his wand and ran off, he saw someone moving in there and quickly jumped them.

Jaci let out a scream. "Severus! What the hell are you doing?" Severus' eyes widened in the dark and he quickly got off of her. He helped her up, but didn't make a move to hold her anymore. He quickly walked to the fireplace nearby and stood there, his hands crossed, looking down. Jaci sighed and shook her head. She took several steps closer to him, seeing if he would back away.

"Jaci…"

"Severus…" they both looked at each other and laughed. Severus gently took Jaci into his arms. He held her tightly and breathed in deeply.

"I'm sorry that I didn't talk to you, I just had no idea what to tell you. I…"

"Forget it Severus, I shouldn't have asked."

"No, you had every right to ask…"

"Severus, just drop it, okay?" Severus sighed, he wasn't going to not talk to her about this, but he'd tell her later.

"Why don't we go get showered and dressed and go down to get breakfast?" Severus asked. Jaci smiled up at him and nodded. They walked back to the bedroom to get ready for the day.

Harry, as well as the entire Hall looked up, everyone was anxiously waiting for Snape and Miss Cortez to walk in, to see if they were holding hands again. Harry growled as he saw Draco walking in, with that girl again! They weren't holding hands or anything, but they were talking, and that was enough to make Harry's blood boil. He quickly looked down, hoping Draco hadn't seen him. Just then the doors opened again and everyone looked up once again and were astonished.

Severus growled, so he was holding Jaci's hand, so what? What was the big deal? Severus sighed, _he_ was the big deal, it was Severus Snape who was walking in with a beautiful wonderful woman, holding her hand and trying not to smile at all the little jokes and things she was telling him.

He led her up to the table once more and they sat down to eat. Jaci made quick friends with McGonagall and Hagrid soon they were talking and laughing all together. Soon the entire staff was crowded around Jaci and Severus, listening to Jaci's hilarious stories that made them double over with laughter and begin to cry. Severus was having a hard time trying _not_ to laugh. Soon it was time to go and the other teachers made Jaci promise to tell them more at lunch. Jaci smiled and nodded.

Severus stood and helped Jaci out of her chair, he took her hand and they walked down the Great Hall once more, with most of the students looking at them in wonder. Jaci smiled at everyone and gave a little wave to Harry, Ron, and Hermione who waved back and smiled.

Jaci watched as Severus begin teaching nervous first years that day, he had to explain simple things to them and Jaci could tell that his patience was running thin through his last class. He was trying to explain the day procedures and expectations, but every five seconds a child would raise his or her hand with a completely out of topic question and Severus looked as if he wanted to murder them, but he held it all back, thankfully.

Finally the last class of the day filed out of the room and shut the door behind themselves. Jaci stood up and walked up behind Severus, he stood, rigid before her, staring at the closed door. Jaci gently laid her hands on his shoulders and began to massage his tense back. She heard Severus sigh, and Jaci smiled. He was tired and she could tell, poor guy. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed herself against his back.

Severus smiled, Jaci was trying to get him to cheer up, and it was working, sort of. He slowly turned and looked down at her. Jaci smiled up at him, waiting for him to say or do something, but when a minute passed and still he did nothing, her face fell and she began to worry. She turned around and just began to walk back to his desk to pick it up because she had nothing else to do. Severus looked at her curiously and walked up behind her, trying to put his arms around her but she pushed them off of her.

"Come," she said coldly, "you'll be late for dinner." She began to walk through the doorway, but he grabbed her and turned her to face him. His face was angry and confused.

"What is wrong with you?" he spat. Jaci glared at him.

"Get your hands off of me," she said coolly, it only pissed Severus off more. He placed both of his hands on her arms, gripping her tightly, drawing her closer.

"What _is_ wrong with you?" he growled.

"Get your fucking hands off of me!" Jaci said. Severus growled and only held on to her tighter. Jaci had had it. She quickly swiped her leg under both of his, making him loose his balance and fall to the floor. In Severus' fall, he'd let go of Jaci, but when he landed the ground he growled as the sharp pain flowed through his body and he quickly kicked out his legs to do the same thing to her.

Jaci was prepared from a comeback, so she neatly jumped so he couldn't hit her. She glared down as he groaned on the floor, because she'd jumped, his leg hit the desk, hard. Severus cursed up a storm. He slowly got to his feet, wincing as the pain seared through his entire body, his leg was throbbing. Jaci watched him the entire time, not making a single move to help him.

Was that woman mad? Severus growled once more, shaking his head. When he had finally gotten up and sat himself down on his chair to check the damage, making sure that nothing was broken did he look up. She was gone! First she turns away from him, then she curses again, drops him to the floor, leave him there, without helping him up, and then she leaves!

Severus' eyes went wide. She left! Where did she go? Quickly, his body protesting with the pain, he stood and ran out of the room, he went to his office, nothing, his quarters, no where to be seen, he peeked into the Great Hall and she wasn't there either! He growled in frustration. Where had she gone to? If she left him, he'd go mad!

Quickly, this being his last hope, Severus walked out to the grounds, he had searched the entire castle, asking most of the portraits, he even asked Filch! Severus walked quickly toward Hagrid's hut, searched around there, the Greenhouse, the Lake, finally he walked to the Quidditch. He stood in the shadows, looking up at the seats, he finally found her. She was sitting on the highest seat available, looking up at the night's sky. Severus let out a big sigh of relief and began climbing the stairs as quietly as he could to get to the top.

Jaci knew he was coming, she could hear him no matter how quiet he was trying to be, he was breathing too loudly, obviously this man had never had to sneak around as if his life depended on it. Jaci had spent too much of her life sneaking around, she had perfected sneaking around abilities. Jaci sighed loudly as he finally climbed the last stair. She counted how long it took him to get his breath back, he was a bit out of shape. He needed to go running more, or be running for his life more often.

Severus walked up behind Jaci and placed his hands on her shoulders. She didn't jump as he thought she would, in fact she didn't move at all. He'd expected her to scream or something.

"You've obviously never snuck up on people before." Jaci's voice shocked him, he hadn't expected her to talk.

"Why did you do that?" he asked. Jaci knew what he was talking about.

"You wouldn't let go of me Severus, I defended myself against you." Severus growled.

"You make me sound like I'm some kind of criminal." Jaci laughed. She stood and turned to face him.

"And what's to make me think that you're not?" Severus growled. He grabbed her wrists tightly and brought her closer. He bent his head and kissed her, roughly. Jaci tried to push him away, but he only held on tighter. Finally she brought her knee up to meet with his groin. Severus groaned and let her go.

"Don't you ever fucking do that again you asshole!" Jaci yelled at him. After a few seconds of deep breathing and a bit of whimpering, Severus stood up once more.

"What in bloody hell is wrong with you woman?" Severus yelled.

"Wrong with _me_? Wrong with _me_? Oh no Severus Snape, I think the question here is what is wrong with you." Severus looked at her confused once more.

"What do you mean?" Jaci growled. She ran a hand through her hair, and then, as if barely noticing what she was doing, she growled. "Damn it Severus, now I'm doing things like you."

"WHAT do you mean?"

"You come to Laredo and I think 'okay, fine I'll take care of this guy until daddy gets home', then I get to know you, or at least I _think_ I get to know you. I fucking trusted you, I gave up my virginity to you. Then, we go off to _my_ ranch, _I _take _you_ to _my_ ranch and then daddy comes home, and I can understand why you ran. What I _couldn't_understand is why you never came back for me. Why you left me there to fend for myself. I though you cared for me, but I guess I was wrong, huh Severus?" Jaci turned away, she began to make her way down the stairs.

"Jaci, damn it wait!" Severus yelled. He began to follow her down the stairs, chasing after her, but Jaci only picked up speed.

Severus saw it all as if it was in slow motion, Jaci lost her balance and cried out. Slowly, second by second she began to fall, she hit the stairs hard, first on her head, then her body twisted so she would land on her back, but then she began to roll down the stairs, her stomach hitting the next set of stair, then her back, each time she tried not to cry out in pain, but it was useless. Severus stood, horrified, he was frozen as he watched Jaci tumble down, until finally she reached the dirt floor with a soft thud.

Severus came out of his shock and rushed down to her. She was unconscious and already her face was beginning to bruise. She was bleeding, but Severus couldn't tell from where, he figured it was from the wooden splinters from the staircase. He took off the cloak he was wearing and wrapped Jaci in it, she groaned. Severus picked her up and practically ran her into the castle.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione, along with most of the school, were already heading back up to their Common Rooms when the doors to Hogwarts opened. Everyone turned to see who was walking in, most of them gasped.

Snape rushed in, Jaci wrapped up in his cloak, eyes wide with…well Harry thought it was fear, but he couldn't be sure. Everyone quickly noticed the trail of blood, and they made way as Snape practically ran through everyone, heading to the Hospital Wing. Hermione was standing in his path, so she moved, but not after getting a glimpse of Jaci's face. It was bruised and she appeared to be unconscious.

As Snape disappeared down a hallway, everyone burst into whispers, each person asking the same question, 'what had happened to Jaci?' Hermione quickly took Harry and Ron aside.

"I saw Jaci's face…" she started.

"And? Did she look okay?" Ron asked quickly. Hermione sighed.

"No, she looked bad, her face was…" Hermione went on to describe what she had seen. Harry and Ron stood horrified.

"What could have happened to her?" Harry asked, they began to make their way up to the Common Room.

"I don't know, but whatever it was, it wasn't good." Hermione nodded at Ron's comment. They each went to their rooms, mainly wondering what could have happened to Jaci.

Madam Pomfery had just finished tending to Neville Longbottom when Professor Snape ran in, he searched the room for her, he ran over to her, holding out Jaci in his arms.

"Please," he pleaded, for the first time in his life, "please help her, I don't know what's wrong with her." Madam Pomfery glanced down at Jaci and gasped.

"What happened to her?" Madam Pomfery had him set her down on the bed.

"We were at the Quidditch pitch, the tallest tower, and more than halfway down, she fell and she just began to…to tumble down, all the way down." Snape looked up at Madam Pomfery, trying to hold his tears back. "Will she be all right?"

"I'm going to try my best Severus, now you'll have to wait outside." Snape nodded and walked out.

"Severus?" Snape looked up to see who was talking to him and to his surprise it was McGonagall. She was standing there with Hagrid and Dumbledore. McGonagall walked slowly over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"How is she?" she gently asked. Snape tried hard to keep his composure, but he felt a tear gently and slowly slide down his face, he quickly wiped it away. He took a deep breath and burst into tears. Hagrid quickly walked over to him and gently led Snape down to a chair. Dumbledore sat next to Snape and McGonagall and Hagrid stood on each side of both men. When Snape had calmed down a bit, Dumbledore patted Snape's hand.

"What happened Severus?" Dumbledore said softly. Snape sighed.

"We argued, and well, she fell down the Quidditch pitch stairs, from the tallest tower." McGonagall gasped. Hagrid looked down and shook his head.

"Will she be all right?" Dumbledore asked. Snape shook his head.

"I don't know, she was bleeding so much, but I couldn't tell from where, I just wrapped her up in my cloak and brought her here to Madam Pomfery."

"Do not worry Severus, I'm sure Madam Pomfery will do everything possible to help Jaci." Dumbledore patted his shoulder again and McGonagall and Hagrid nodded reassuringly. Snape shook his head, he didn't know if that was true.


	12. Distressing News

Chapter 11: Distressing news 

Two hours passed and Snape grew more and more worried. Hagrid soon had to leave to do his rounds around the castle and McGonagall went to punish a few students who had been misbehaving, so it was just Dumbledore and Snape. Snape had stood and paced while Dumbledore took out a few lemon drops. Soon Snape grew tired of pacing so he sat, but he became restless and would get up and pace all over again. Dumbledore sighed, his poor friend, this was driving him mad.

They both looked up as the door opened and Madam Pomfery walked out. She looked grave and a bit of blood stained the hem of her work robe. Snape quickly ran over to her.

"How is she?" he asked. Madam Pomfery looked up at him, her face etched with sadness and both Snape and Dumbledore waited for the worst.

"She lost the baby," Pomfery said quietly. Snape looked at her like she was mad.

"Baby? What baby?" he spat. Pomfery looked at him shocked.

"You didn't know? She was about a month pregnant, she lost the baby." Snape went wide-eyed, he felt his legs give way, Dumbledore pushed him into a chair.

"She was pregnant, she was pregnant this whole time and I didn't know." Snape placed his face in his hands and his elbows on his knees.

"How is Miss Cortez Poppy?" Dumbledore asked. Pomfery looked at him, sadness still clouding her eyes.

"She'll be fine in a day, in fact she awoke a few minutes ago, she asked me about the baby and she cried when I told her she'd lost it."

"She's awake?" Snape asked, jumping to his feet hope in his eyes. Pomfery shook her head.

"I had to give her a potion to put her to sleep until tomorrow, she needs her rest Professor Snape." Madam Pomfery said firmly, Dumbledore knew she cared for her patients more than anything. Snape nodded.

"May…may I stay with her?" Pomfery smiled at the request.

"Yes, you may, if you want to sleep, you may take the unoccupied bed next to her." Snape nodded, he looked up at Dumbledore who smiled gently at him.

"Go ahead, I will take over your class tomorrow," Dumbledore said.

"Thank you Headmaster." Snape quickly stood up and walked in with Madam Pomfery. She led him to the last bed, by the window. Jaci lay there in a long pajama shirt, it was dark blue. He looked at Pomfery curiously.

"I lent it to her," Madam Pomfery said. Snape nodded.

"Thank you." Pomfery smiled and nodded.

"Good night." With that she walked to her quarters, which was just down the hall, and closed the door. Snape sighed and looked down at Jaci's face. She was a bit pale, and her bruise was going away, thanks to Madam Pomfery, she looked so helpless, so fragile. Snape pulled up a chair next to her bed. He took her hand in his and shook his head. This was all his fault, if only he'd talk to her.

She'd been pregnant! Maybe that's why she had seemed so different, but still, why hadn't she told him that she was expecting! And yet he wondered if it had something to do with him. She'd said he'd been acting different hadn't she?

Jaci awoke slowly and painfully. She didn't open her eyes, she knew where she was and who was holding her hand. She tried not to think about what had happened, about what she had lost, but it was so hard. She took a few deep breaths, hoping Severus wasn't noticing to calm her before she burst out crying. When she felt better, she slowly began making some movements, a little shifting and some sighing.

Severus sat up straighter, he could have sworn that Jaci had moved. He sat still for a few seconds, sure enough, she was shifting! He quickly let go of her hand and sat back waiting for her to fully wake up. Slowly Jaci sat up, she rubbed her eyes tiredly and then opened them. She looked around, but she avoided looking at him, instead she looked out the window.

"Jaci?" Severus said. But Jaci didn't look at him, instead she looked on the other side of her bed and stretched a bit. "Jaci." Severus took her hand, but she took it back.

"What do you want?" Jaci turned to look at him, fire in her eyes. Severus glared back at her.

"Why didn't you tell me you where pregnant?" Severus whispered.

"I figured you didn't want to know." Jaci got up, slowly, painfully, but she stood.

"You shouldn't be standing." Severus got up to help her.

"Don't touch me Severus, I'm—I'm going home soon."

"Home? What the hell do you mean?" Severus was starting to get pissed off all over again.

"Yes home, where I belong, far away from here and from you." Jaci turned to look at him. "Us meeting, well Severus it was a mistake, a big mistake and I see that now. I told Madam Pomfery to tell Dumbledore and not you, I made her give her word, Dumbledore knows, he's hopefully going to arrange me leaving."

Severus couldn't stand this, this was madness, insanity, she wanted to leave him? Everything he had figured out during his long night by her side had left him, everything he had wanted to tell her, everything he'd thought of doing for her was gone. What he was thinking now was that she was a bitch, she'd been with him, slept with him, told him she wanted him and now she was leaving? What had he done? He was nothing but loyal to her. He growled.

"You're staying here." Severus towered over her, but Jaci stood her ground.

"Oh and who's stopping me?" Severus was trying to hold his temper, but it was hard with this woman.

"You're not going to leave me." Severus crossed his arms. Jaci shook her head.

"You're just like my father." Severus' eyes bulged.

"DO NOT COMPARE ME WITH THAT SORRY EXCUSE FOR A MAN!"

"THAT MAN IS MY FATHER!"

"I DO NOT UNDERSTAND YOU! THAT MAN IS THE WORST TYPE OF FATHER IN THE WORLD AND YOU DEFEND HIM?"

"HE'S STILL FAMILY!" Severus began to laugh hysterically.

"_Family?_ That's a good one Jaci, that asshole beats you, almost raped you, tried to give you up to one of the _worst_ Death Eaters and yet…yet you still defend him?"

"He's all I have left."

"All you have left? What the hell am I?" Severus barked out. Jaci shook her head.

"I don't know who you are and I don't want to know."

"What?" Jaci nodded her head.

"I don't want to know you anymore Snape, I don't want to get to know you anymore, I'm leaving and there's nothing that you can do about it." With that Jaci turned and went into the restroom to change.

Severus sat down on a chair, amazed of the words that Jaci had just finished telling him. She didn't want to get to know him anymore? What did he do that made her want to change her mind about him? He had to know. Quickly he stood and raced over to Dumbledore.

"I'm sorry to hear that Miss Leza," Dumbledore said later that day. "As Madam Pomfery asked me last night, I arranged for you to leave tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Jaci asked, a bit in despair. Dumbledore smiled apologetically.

"Yes my dear, I am sorry, but it was the best I could do." Jaci smiled.

"It is all right, thank you so much Mr. Dumbledore." Dumbledore shook his head.

"As I have told you, please call me Albus." Jaci shook her head.

"I wouldn't feel right doing that." Dumbledore laughed.

"All right then Miss Leza, well it is dinner time, would you give me the honor of escorting you to dinner?" Dumbledore stood and offered his arm. Jaci laughed.

"Mr. Dumbledore I believe _you_ would be giving _me_ the honor of escorting me to dinner." They laughed and walked down to the Great Hall.

Hermione looked up as the doors to the Great Hall opened, Harry and Ron were at Quidditch practice so it was up to her to watch out for Snape and Jaci. She sighed in relief as she saw Jaci walking in with Dumbledore, Jaci looked so much better, she was walking with a slight limp, but it would go unnoticed unless you really, really paid attention. Sort of what Snape was doing atop of the teacher's table.

Jaci could feel Snape's eyes on her, but she refused to sit next to him, so she traded places with Hagrid so Hagrid was on Snape's left and Jaci was in between McGonagall and Hagrid. Everyone noticed the change, but they dared not to speak anything about it, Snape was looking like he could murder someone. Jaci talked and laughed with McGonagall and Hagrid and Dumbledore, but she refused to even look in Snape's direction. Soon dinner was over and everyone was heading down to their respected rooms when Jaci found herself in a jam. _Her_ room was with Snape! What was she going to do? She sighed and just followed him, but didn't speak to him and he didn't even turn to look at her.

They walked into his quarters, he glanced at her, then took out a pillow and blanket and went and made himself comfortable on the couch, so Jaci took his bed. When she awoke, she smelled food, her stomach growling, she walked to the kitchen. Snape was there, drinking coffee and reading the Daily Prophet. There was a plate with ham and eggs on the counter, Jaci guessed it was for her, she sat down and began to eat. A few minutes after she had sat down, Snape sighed loudly, it made her jump.

Jaci looked up and saw that Snape was looking straight past her, out of the window, so Jaci turned to see what was back there, she saw nothing interesting, all though it did look a bit cloudy. Jaci shivered and turned back to look at her food. She was surprised to notice out of the corner of her eye, that Severus had left.

Jaci sighed and began to pick up her plate and things, she quickly washed what dishes were there then hurried to go and speak with Dumbledore. But before she could reach the portrait opening, she was grabbed from behind and pushed up against a wall.

"What the hell…" Jaci's eyes went wide, it was Severus. She tried to squirm away, but didn't succeed Severus' grip became tighter on her.

"Jaci, we have to talk."

"I have nothing more to say to you, let me go." Severus growled. He slammed her up against the wall, sending pain searing throughout her body. "Let me go Severus." That only sent Severus slamming her against the wall again.

"You're going to listen to what I have to say." Jaci shook her head. Again she was slammed into the wall. Severus grinned down at her in such a way that it reminded her of her father. Jaci shook her head, no this couldn't be Severus, he wouldn't act this way, but as he slammed her back into the wall, she found out he could.

"You…" Severus slammed her back into the wall as he spoke to her, "are…" he slammed her again, "going…to…stay…here."

"Get your FUCKING hands off of me!" Jaci managed to yell. Severus' eyes went wide.

"You cursed, you no good witch! Good witches don't curse, you are disrespectful, rude, a piece of crap!" Severus yelled, shaking her.

"Oh you already fucking knew I cursed you son of a bitch!" Jaci screamed. Severus went on a rampage.

"Good witches don't curse! Good witches don't curse!" As he continued to repeat that, he slammed her into the wall, each time sending pain searing through her body. Jaci soon began to loose consciousness, little by little, until…

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!" Jaci heard _another_ Severus voice yell. Both her and 'Severus' turned to the portrait opening where…_Severus_ stood? Jaci shook her head slightly, she was loosing it, 'Severus' had bashed her head in too many times. Speaking of 'Severus', he was running out to the kitchen balcony that led down to the Hogwarts grounds, into the Forbidden Forest. Jaci swayed for a few seconds and collapsed. She felt strong arms wrap themselves around her, pulling her and tugging her until she was laying straight half on the floor half in the safeness of the arms. Jaci had to keep reminding herself to breath, it was getting harder to keep her eyes open. Soon she closed them and just concentrated on taking deep, long and even breaths.

"I've got you, don't worry," were the last things she heard as she slowly drifted into darkness.

Jaci was panting, she was running, she was running faster and faster because she had to get away, she had to get away from him. She looked back, a huge mistake, she tripped, went sprawling onto the ground, she had lost a few seconds, but she was back on her feet as soon as she took in her next breath. She had to get away from him, she just had to.

Jaci sat up, screaming, quickly arms went around her and the warm body smelled of sweet grass and chocolate frogs. Jaci quickly pulled back and her confused eyes met the scared green eyes of Harry Potter. Harry quickly removed his arms from around her shoulders and sat back onto his chair where his friends Ron and Hermione were sitting around also.

"Good—good afternoon Miss Cortez," Harry said slowly after a few moment's pause. Jaci looked at him curiously.

"Where am I?" she looked around.

"The Hospital Wing, in a private part of the Hospital Wing," Ron said. Jaci looked over at him and gave a half smile, but she winced as she felt sore muscles from the back of her head. Jaci sat back and glanced a bit more around the Wing.

"What happened?" she finally asked, hoping that the children could give her some answers.

"We don't know," said Hermione, confirming Jaci's fears, "all we know is that you've been here for two weeks." Jaci stared at her wide-eyed.

"Shut up! Two weeks? Wow!" Jaci said. Harry, Ron, and Hermione nodded.

"We've visited you sometimes, but Snape's been here almost twenty-four seven. Only reason he's not here right now is that Madam Pomfery made him go and shower. He's a mess Miss Cortez, a real mess, hasn't been right since you were attacked…" Harry said. Jaci held up a hand to silence him.

"Wait, so I was attacked?" Harry shrugged.

"That's what we've figured, we're still not sure." Just then someone cleared their throat. They all looked toward the doorway. Harry, Ron, and Hermione's eyes went wide, Professor Snape stood there, hair still dripping wet, glaring at them. Jaci gulped, Snape's eyes were piercing right through the poor kids. Jaci quickly went to their defense.

"Harry, Ron, Hermione, thank you for the lovely visit," Jaci said, making everyone turn to look at her. "But I think I need some rest."

"Of—of course Miss Cortez," Hermione said, catching wind of what Jaci was doing. Hermione stood and kissed Jaci on the cheek. "We'll see you later." Harry and Ron nodded and walked off with Hermione, their eyes avoiding those of Snape's.

Snape growled, he knew that those brats were up to something when he had passed by them earlier, but Pomfery made him go to shower. Snape shook his head, he knew he should have stayed either way, he had wanted to be there when Jaci had awoken.

Jaci watched as Snape made his way to her, he sat down on the chair Harry had been sitting on earlier. Neither of them spoke for a while, Jaci was still a bit confused and she didn't know where to start. Finally, Snape sighed and shook his head.

"It wasn't me," he said, starring at her as if daring for her to disagree.

"I know," she said, surprising him.

"How?"

"I cursed and that bastard lost it, that's how I knew it wasn't you, you were sort of used to me cursing, but the dude wasn't, it was the first time he had heard me curse."

"Oh."

"So, I've been here for two damn weeks?" Snape nodded. Jaci sighed, she should have figured. "What were my damages?"

"You don't want to know."

"Yes I do, I asked you now tell me." Snape shook his head.

"No, you need rest, get some sleep." With that he settled back in the chair and stretched his legs out. Jaci growled.

"Snape you're going to…"

"Going to what?" Snape growled, he sat up glaring at her.

"First of all you're going to tell me what happened to me, second you're going to leave and third you're never going to see me again." Snape laughed.

"That last one was a bit amusing wasn't it?" he continued laughing until Jaci could take it no more, she quickly shot out her good leg and made connection with his face. Snape groaned as blood seeped out from his lip. He wiped it with the back of his hand.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Jaci told him.

"The man who cares for you." Jaci snorted.

"_Cares for me?_ Please Snape don't make me laugh my head hurts. You don't care for me, you care only for yourself and fulfilling your dream of killing Voldemort." Snape's head shot up. "Oh yeah, I know about your little scam, you make the Dark one pretend you're on his side but in all reality you're on Dumbledore's side, you think you've got me all figured out Snape, but you don't, you never will." With that, Jaci turned her head, leaving Snape in stunned silence.

"How—how did you figure it out?" Snape said, putting a dent in his pride. Jaci snorted.

"Please, it was easy, you could read it right away." With that Snape began laughing.

"Sure, of course you could, that's why you were so stunned when you discovered I wasn't like the rest of your father's friends." Jaci rolled her eyes.

"Okay, at first it was a bit hard, but after I got through to you, it was easy to read, easy to understand what it was you were trying and wanted to do. That and I see the way that you are with Dumbledore, you admire him over everyone else." Snape had to stare at her on that one, he wasn't the type who could be read like a book, but she'd read through the front cover, the story, and even the author's note on him. He shook his head.

"Jaci I…"

"Need to leave. I told you I don't wish to speak with you, at all." She turned on her side once more. Snape growled. She hadn't read through all of him, she still knew how to tick him off, and she was going to have to get the consequences.

"You're going to listen to me Jaci." Jaci laughed, then drew in sharp breath as her sore head began to pound with pain. "You have to hear what I have to say, what I need to say to you." His voice rose a few degrees until it was warm and soft. Jaci's curiosity got the best of her and she turned to look at him. He was still sitting back in the chair, but his eyes were closed as if he dared not to look at her.

"What do you want Snape?" Snape took a deep breath, not opening his eyes once.

"First of all, I want you to stop calling me Snape, my name is Severus, call me that."

"How about I call you asshole?" Snape let his breath in a sharp hiss.

"Please, I'm trying to contain myself and tell you what I need to."

"Oh I'm sorry, by all means continue."

"And no sarcasm." Snape took another deep breath. "I don't know where to start, or how to start."

"Why not from the beginning? That always helps." Snape smiled, eyes still closed.

"You and your smart mouth." He took another deep breath. "All right, I'll start to a bit before I met you. You see, my childhood was…" In Snape's mind memories flashed of screaming parents, a small child always in dark corners crying after being beaten, a mother who'd claw the child with her nails each time the child did something wrong, a father who wanted him to be at the top of everything and hurt him if he wasn't. "I wasn't the best a kid could have. I was lost half the time, then I got here and a made a few friends like Lucius for example and…"

Snape went on to explain everything. The reasons why he had joined Voldemort and then backed out and became a double agent for Dumbledore. How he made himself an enemy against the children at the school, how he was cruel, mean and cold.

"And it just sort of kept going like that for 14 years, then the Dark Lord sent me to go to your father, and well you know the rest."

"Yes I do." Jaci's own voice surprised her. It was low and quiet, not her usual loud and thunderous voice. Snape took another deep breath and he was about to continue, but Jaci placed a hand on his shoulder and his head snapped up and he opened his eyes. He looked at her and was surprised to see that her cheeks were wet with tears. He hadn't even heard her crying. He quickly wiped them from her face.

Jaci closed her eyes as his fingers wiped the last of her tears from her face, he wasn't the gentlest man on the face of the earth, but at least he cared enough to want to do so. When he finished she opened her eyes and looked at him, her hand was still on his shoulder so she slowly removed it.

"You don't have to tell me anything anymore." Snape shook his head.

"I have to finish what I was…"

"No, because now I understand you a bit more. Now I get why you act so different, why you put a mask on in front of other people why you don't act like any normal wizard, I know more about you now and now I can understand you better when you do things." Severus sighed, that's what he wanted, for her to understand him, for her to know how difficult things were for him and how he wanted to share it with someone, anyone, but mainly her.

"Now I need to share with you what I need for you to understand." Jaci said. Severus nodded. Jaci smiled. "But first come closer." Severus looked at her weird but did as he was told. Jaci brought her hand to his cheek and gently kissed him. Severus looked at her surprised when she pulled back.

"Wh—why did you do that?" he asked. Jaci smiled.

"Isn't it obvious? I missed, even though I was killing myself trying to get myself to try to forget about you, to tell myself that I didn't need you, well I was lying to myself and…" Severus leaned forward and kissed her again, longer than the last one. Jaci grinned at him when they pulled back.

"I missed you too," he said. Jaci laughed, then she put on a serious face.

"Severus listen, I didn't want to tell you about the baby at first, I wanted to surprise you, but well, you know we got into sort of a fight and I thought that I didn't want to raise the child with you, but now I know what a mistake that was and I'm sorry that I wasn't more cooperate with you…"

"What? How could you say that? I know it was all my fault Jaci, all of it, don't even apologize at all, do you hear me?" Jaci nodded slowly, but there was more she needed to tell him, like her plan about Voldemort.

"I just got so scared you know? And then when Madam Pomfery told me that I lost the baby, I was so upset, I was so dumb and it was all my fault, I'm sorry that I lost the baby, Severus." Severus shook his head.

"It was all my fault and I've accepted that and now you need to accept that too." He took her hand gently in his.

"And I…"

"Ah Miss Cortez you've finally woken up." They both looked up as Madam Pomfery walked into the room. Severus cursed silently for her bad timing. But just then Professor Dumbledore walked in as well.

Jaci noticed that Severus hadn't let go of her hand yet and that was odd, when Dumbledore was around he made sure they had no physical contact, but now it was like he didn't care. She tried to remove her hand from his but he only held on tighter and glanced at her, she smiled so he was trying to change.

"Hello Miss Cortez," Dumbledore said, smiling and taking a seat next to Snape. Jaci smiled.

"Please Professor Dumbledore call me Jaci, I've asked you time and time again." Dumbledore laughed.

"All right then Jaci, but call me Albus." Jaci laughed.

"All right then Albus." All three of them laughed. Dumbledore gave a quick glance to Snape, but didn't make a comment.

"How are you feeling Jaci?" Dumbledore asked, patting the hand that rested on the bed fondly. Jaci smiled.

"Much, much better, thank you for letting me stay here." Dumbledore smiled.

"Of course, why would we send you off anywhere? You can stay here as long as you wish." Dumbledore rose and patted her hand once more. "I must go and speak with Professor McGonagall, Severus please meet me before dinner." Snape nodded and Dumbledore left. Jaci was about to open her mouth to finish telling Severus of her plan when Madam Pomfery began to shoo him out.

"Severus Snape she needs her rest now let her be, she can leave tomorrow, come by for her before lunch and she'll be ready." Snape looked down at Jaci and smiled.

"All right then." With that he kissed Jaci's forehead and walked out.

Jaci sighed and lay back against her pillows, maybe now wasn't the time to tell him. Yes, she shouldn't tell him just yet. Jaci smiled and drifted off into a peaceful sleep.


End file.
